華嚴經 御製序〈大周新譯序〉Avataṃsaka Sūtra · The Imperial Preface to the New Translation of the Great Zhou
一句話裡，放得下整個法界。
這篇序不是經文，是一位讀經的人在卷首交代兩件事：這部經有多高，這部經怎麼來。
說高，它只用兩個詞——「斯乃諸佛之密藏，如來之性海」。再進一步，就是全序最深的那一對句子：「一句之內，包法界之無邊；一毫之中，置剎土而非隘」。不是塞得進去，是本來就不擠。
說來歷，它記得極細：晉朝譯出的那一部，四百年間「唯啟半珠，未窺全寶」；梵本自于闐迎來，某年某月某日開譯，某年某月某日繕寫畢功。一部書的身世，年月朔日俱書。
末了作者自問：理既「無說無示」，何必作序？他答得樸素——『不假言則無由顯』。所以還是說了。
且從這一句之內讀起。
Within a single sentence, there is room for the whole Dharma realm.
This preface is not scripture. It is a reader of the scripture setting out two things at the head of the book: how high this sūtra stands, and how this sūtra came to be.
For its height it uses only two words: “this is the secret treasury of all the buddhas, the ocean of the Tathāgata’s nature.” Then, going one step further, comes the deepest pair of lines in the whole preface: “within a single sentence, the boundlessness of the Dharma realm is contained; within a single hair, buddha-lands are set down and it is not cramped.” It is not that they can be squeezed in. It is that there was never any crowding.
For its provenance the preface remembers everything in detail: the version brought over in the Jin, of which for four hundred years “only half a pearl was opened, and the whole treasure was never seen”; the Sanskrit original welcomed from the country of Khotan; the day, month, and year the translating began, and the day, month, and year the fair copying was finished. The life story of a book, with the years and months and the first days of the months all written down.
At the end the author asks herself: if the principle is “without speech and without showing,” why write a preface at all? She answers plainly — ‘unless one borrows words, there is no way for it to be made manifest.’ And so she spoke after all.
Begin, then, from within this one sentence.
〔卷1〕 〔T10 0001〕 蓋聞：「造化權輿之首，天道未分；龜龍繫象之初，人文始著。雖萬八千歲，同臨有截之區；七十二君，詎識無邊之義。」由是人迷四忍，輪迴於六趣之中；家纏五蓋，沒溺於三塗之下。及夫鷲巖西峙，象駕東驅，慧日法王超四大而高視，中天調御越十地以居尊，包括鐵圍，延促沙劫。其為體也，則不生不滅；其為相也，則無去無來。念處、正勤，三十七品為其行；慈、悲、喜、捨，四無量法運其心。方便之力難思，圓對之機多緒，混大空而為量，豈算數之能窮？入纖芥之微區，匪名言之可述，無得而稱者，其唯大覺歟！ 朕曩劫植因，叨承佛記。金仙降旨，大雲之偈先彰；玉扆披祥，寶雨之文後及。加以積善餘慶，俯集微躬，遂得地平天成，河清海晏。殊禎絕瑞，既日至而月書；貝牒靈文，亦時臻而歲洽。逾海越漠，獻賝之禮備焉；架險航深，重譯之辭罄矣。 《大方廣佛華嚴經》者，斯乃諸佛之密藏，如來之性海。視之者，莫識其指歸；挹之者，罕測其涯際。有學、無學，志絕窺覦；二乘、三乘，寧希聽受。最勝種智，莊嚴之迹既隆；普賢、文殊，願行之因斯滿。一句之內，包法界之無邊；一毫之中，置剎土而非隘。摩竭陀國，肇興妙會之緣；普光法堂，爰敷寂滅之理。緬惟奧義，譯在晉朝；時逾六代，年將四百。然圓一部之典，纔獲三萬餘言，唯啟半珠，未窺全寶。朕聞其梵本，先在于闐國中，遣使奉迎，近方至此。既覩百千之妙頌，乃披十萬之正文。粵以證聖元年，歲次乙未，月旅沽洗，朔惟戊申，以其十四日辛酉，於大遍空寺，親受筆削，敬譯斯經。遂得甘露流津，預夢庚申之夕；膏雨灑潤，後覃壬戌之辰。式開實相之門，還符一味之澤。以聖曆二年，歲次己亥，十月壬午朔，八日己丑，繕寫畢功；添性海之波瀾，廓法界之疆域。大乘頓教，普被於無窮；方廣真筌，遐該於有識。豈謂後五百歲，忽奉金口之言；娑婆境中，俄啟珠函之祕。所冀：闡揚沙界，宣暢塵區；並兩曜而長懸，彌十方而永布。一窺寶偈，慶溢心靈；三復幽宗，喜盈身意。雖則無說無示，理符不二之門；然因言顯言，方闡大千之義。輒申鄙作，爰題序云。
The canonical text stands in Chinese only. This edition renders the essence, the plain reading, the exposition and the apparatus into English — never the sūtra itself. Switch to 漢讀本 or 並行雙語 above to read it.
發端：從天地初開說起
序文以「蓋聞」發端，底本標點以引號括其所聞之語——
「聽說：天地造化剛剛開端的時候，天的道理還沒有分明；龜背與龍圖繫上卦象的當初，人的文明才開始顯著。縱使歷經一萬八千年之久，人所同在的，仍只是這有邊有際的一方區域；縱使有七十二位君王先後臨世，又哪一位識得那無邊無際的道理呢。」
（「有截之區」指劃得出界限的區域；「無邊之義」指沒有邊際的道理。序文先把人間全部的年代與君王擺出來，正是要說：時間再長、君主再多，都還在有邊之內。）
迷之所由：四忍與五蓋
因為這個緣故，人迷失了四忍，就在六趣之中輪迴不停；家家纏縛於五蓋，就沉沒淹溺在三塗之下。
（「四忍」之目，古來各家說法不一，序文在此只把它與「五蓋」對舉，作為迷之所由，並未自加解釋。「五蓋」是蓋覆心性、使善法不生的五種障礙。「六趣」是眾生受生的六類去處；「三塗」是其中最苦的三類——地獄、餓鬼、畜生。輪迴說的是流轉不停，沒溺說的是往下墜落。）
佛出於世：從西天到東土
到了那靈鷲之山在西方聳峙、白象之駕向東方馳驅的時節——智慧如日的法王，超出四大所成之身而高視；居於中天的調御丈夫，越過十地之位而獨尊。他把鐵圍山所環的整個世界都包括在內，能把長劫縮短、把短劫延長，於恆沙之劫來去自在。
（「慧日法王」「中天調御」都是佛的稱號：一以日喻其智，一以能調御眾生為義。「四大」指地水火風所成之身；「十地」是菩薩聖位的十個階次——佛連十地都越過去了，所以說「以居尊」。「鐵圍」是一個世界的外圍山，說空間之廣；「延促沙劫」說時間之自在。）
佛之體相：不生不滅，無去無來
就他的體來說，是不生不滅；就他的相來說，是無去無來。
（一句說體、一句說相，兩扇對開：生滅是就有無說，去來是就動靜說；體上沒有生滅可得，相上也沒有來去可指。）
佛之行與心：三十七品與四無量
四念處、四正勤——這三十七道品，是他所行；慈、悲、喜、捨——這四種無量之法，運轉著他的心。
（「三十七品」是道品的總數，序文舉念處、正勤兩類為首來攝其餘。「四無量」就是慈悲喜捨四種沒有限量的心。前一句說「行」，後一句說「心」，也是一對。）
不可稱量：算數與名言都窮盡了
他方便的力量難以思量，圓滿應對眾生根機的方式頭緒繁多。他混同太虛之空而作為自己的量，哪裡是算數所能窮盡的呢。他又能入於纖芥那樣微小的區域，那更不是名言所能陳述的了。無從稱說、無以名之的，大概只有這位大覺者吧。
（「圓對之機多緒」是說：對什麼根機、用什麼方式，圓滿無礙而頭緒無量。極大處算數窮盡，極小處名言窮盡——兩端都窮了，所以只好說「無得而稱」。）
作者自述：受記、瑞應與四方來獻
朕在久遠之劫種下因緣，得以叨蒙佛的授記。佛既降下旨意，《大雲經》的偈語先已彰明；玉飾的御座披受祥瑞，《寶雨經》的文句隨後而及。
（「金仙」是佛的美稱；「玉扆」是御座之屏，代指人主。序文在此自述所受之記與所披之祥，先偈後文，一先一後。此節唯依序文自述而錄。）
再加上積善所餘的慶福，俯身聚集到朕這微小之身上，於是得到地平天成、河清海晏的太平。特殊的禎兆、罕絕的祥瑞，一天天到來而月月記載下來；貝葉所書的靈文，也時時到達而年年豐洽。越過大海、穿過沙漠而來的，獻上珍寶之禮已經齊備了；攀越險阻、航行深水而至的，經過輾轉傳譯的言辭也已說盡了。
（「地平天成」「河清海晏」是太平之象；「日至而月書」是說瑞應之多，天天有、月月記。末兩句說四方來獻：一路是逾海越漠，一路是架險航深。）
此經是什麼：諸佛的密藏，如來的性海
《大方廣佛華嚴經》這部經，正是諸佛所祕密含藏的法藏，是如來性德所成的大海。看它的人，認不出它的歸趣所在；舀取它的人，少有能量到它的邊涯所至的。
（「密藏」說其祕，「性海」說其深廣；一句從看的人說、一句從取的人說：前者說認不出歸趣，後者說少有人能測到邊際。）
這部經有多高：二乘三乘都不敢指望
有學位的人、無學位的人，心志上根本斷了窺看覬望的念頭；聲聞緣覺的二乘、乃至通說的三乘，也不敢希求聽受這部經。最殊勝的一切種智，其莊嚴的行迹在此經中已經隆盛；普賢與文殊，其願與行的因也在此經中圓滿。
（「有學」是還在修學位的人，「無學」是修學已究竟的人——這裡就聲聞一系說。「窺覦」是偷看而生希求之心。上兩句說此經非小乘所及，下兩句說此經果德與因行雙備：最勝種智是果邊，普賢文殊之願行是因邊。）
一句之內包得下無邊法界
一句之內，包含著無邊的法界；一毫之中，安置了無數的剎土而不覺得窄。
（這是全序最要緊的一對句子：小的不礙大的，大的不擠小的。一句、一毫是極小；法界、剎土是極大。）
說法的地方：摩竭陀國與普光法堂
摩竭陀國，最初興起了這場妙會的因緣；普光法堂，就在那裡敷演寂滅的道理。
（一句說最初成道說法之地，一句說敷演之處。）
舊譯之憾：四百年只得半顆珠
遙想這部經的深奧義理，翻譯在晉朝那個時候；時間過了六個朝代，年數將近四百。然而這部圓滿的典籍，當時所得到的才不過三萬多字——只開啟了半顆珠子，還沒有看見全部的寶藏。
（「時逾六代，年將四百」是說晉譯到武周之間的時間。「唯啟半珠，未窺全寶」是說舊譯不是譯錯了，而是分量未全。）
梵本自于闐來
朕聽說它的梵文原本，先前在于闐國中，便派遣使者奉迎，最近方才到達此地。既已看見那百千之數的妙頌，才得以披閱那十萬之數的正文。
（「百千之妙頌」「十萬之正文」是序文自己記的數目，此處照錄不換算。）
開譯之日：證聖元年
就在證聖元年，歲次乙未，月份行到沽洗之律（即三月），這個月的初一是戊申日，用那月的十四日辛酉，在大遍空寺，朕親自參與筆削，恭敬地翻譯這部經。
（「筆削」是下筆與刪定；「親受筆削」是說作者自陳親與其事。譯場地名與譯事年月，別處的記載與序文所記互有出入，這一層留給考據。）
兩件感應：甘露與膏雨
於是得到甘露流下津液，預先應在庚申那個晚上的夢中；膏澤之雨灑落滋潤，隨後又延及壬戌那一天。這就開啟了實相的門，也回頭符合了一味的潤澤。
（「預夢」是先夢後應，「後覃」是後來延及。「一味之澤」是說法雨無別，普潤一切。）
譯竟之日：聖曆二年
到聖曆二年，歲次己亥，十月的初一是壬午日，用那月的初八日己丑，繕寫的工程完畢——這就給性德之海添上了波瀾，把法界的疆域開廓得更寬。
（「繕寫畢功」是抄寫完成，指全書告成。「添波瀾」「廓疆域」是說新譯所增之文。）
這是什麼教：大乘頓教，方廣真筌
大乘的頓教，普遍覆被於無窮之處；方廣的真實筌蹄，遠遠賅括到一切有識之類。
（「真筌」的「筌」本是取魚之器，借指得意之具，這裡指真實可依的教法。這兩句是序文作者自己給這部經下的教相之判。）
後五百歲，忽然聽見金口之言
哪裡想得到，在後五百歲的時節，忽然奉到金口所說的言教；在娑婆世界之中，忽然開啟了珠函所藏的祕典。
（「後五百歲」是說去佛已遠之時；「金口」指佛口所說；「珠函之祕」是以珠寶之函喻祕典之開。）
所願：與日月同懸，遍布十方
所希望的是：把它闡揚到恆沙之界，把它宣暢到微塵之區；讓它與日月兩曜一同長久高懸，讓它彌漫十方而永遠流布。
（「沙界」「塵區」都是極言其廣；「兩曜」就是日與月。）
讀經之喜
才一窺見這寶偈，慶幸之情已滿溢心靈；再三反覆這幽深的宗旨，歡喜充盈全身與心意。
（「一窺」與「三復」相對：初見已喜，反覆更喜。）
無說而說：作序的理由
雖然說，這境界本是無說無示，道理正符合不二法門；然而憑藉言說來顯明言說，才能夠闡發這大千世界的義理。所以朕就冒昧地陳述這篇淺陋之作，於是題寫成這篇序。
（末段是作者自解：既知理在言外，何以還要作序。答案在「因言顯言」四字——不是言能盡理，而是不假言則無由顯。「輒申鄙作」是自謙之辭，「爰題序云」是全篇的收束。）
Opening: Starting from the First Parting of Heaven and Earth
The preface opens with “I have heard,” and the punctuation of the base text encloses in quotation marks the words that were heard —
“I have heard: at the very beginning, when creation was first set in motion, the way of heaven had not yet been distinguished; at the outset, when the tortoise’s back and the dragon’s chart were being tied to the trigram-images, the culture of humankind first became manifest. Even through eighteen thousand years, what human beings alike dwelt within was still only this bounded region; and though seventy-two rulers came to the world one after another, which one of them ever knew the principle that has no bound?”
(“The bounded region” means a region whose limits can be drawn; “the principle that has no bound” means a truth with no edge to it. The preface first sets out the entire span of the ages of the human world and all its rulers precisely in order to say this: however long the time and however many the sovereigns, they are all still within the bounded.)
How Delusion Comes About: The Four Forbearances and the Five Hindrances
For this reason, people lost their way as to the four forbearances, and so turn round and round within the six destinies; household after household is bound up by the five hindrances, and so sinks and drowns beneath the three evil paths.
(As for the items of the “four forbearances,” the various masters of old have not agreed on what they are; here the preface only sets them over against the “five hindrances,” as that from which delusion comes, and adds no explanation of its own. The “five hindrances” are the five obstructions that cover over the nature of the mind and keep good states from arising. The “six destinies” are the six kinds of place in which sentient beings take birth; the “three evil paths” are the three most painful among them — the hells, the hungry ghosts, and the animals. To turn round and round speaks of flowing on without a stop; to sink and drown speaks of falling downward.)
The Buddha Appears in the World: From the Western Heaven to the Eastern Land
Then came the season when the Vulture Peak rose up in the west and the carriage of the white elephant drove eastward — the Dharma King whose wisdom is a sun, who looks out from on high, having passed beyond the body made of the four great elements; the Tamer of Beings in mid-heaven, who stands alone in honor, having gone past the ten grounds. He takes in the whole world encircled by the Iron Ring Mountains; he can shorten a long kalpa and lengthen a short one, coming and going at will through kalpas numerous as the sands of the Gaṅgā.
(“The Dharma King whose wisdom is a sun” and “the Tamer of Beings in mid-heaven” are both epithets of the Buddha: the one likens his knowledge to the sun, the other takes as its sense his ability to tame and guide sentient beings. “The four great elements” means the body made of earth, water, fire, and wind; “the ten grounds” are the ten stages of the bodhisattva’s noble positions — the Buddha has gone past even the ten grounds, and so it is said that he “dwells in honor.” The “Iron Ring” is the mountain wall that encircles a world, and speaks of the vastness of space; “lengthening and shortening kalpas as many as the sands” speaks of freedom with regard to time.)
The Buddha’s Substance and Characteristic: Neither Arising nor Ceasing, Neither Going nor Coming
Spoken of as to his substance, he neither arises nor ceases; spoken of as to his characteristic, he neither goes nor comes.
(One line speaks of substance, one line of characteristic, and the two leaves of the door open together: arising and ceasing are spoken of in terms of being and non-being, going and coming in terms of motion and stillness; on the side of substance there is no arising or ceasing to be found, and on the side of characteristic there is no coming or going that can be pointed to.)
The Buddha’s Practice and Mind: The Thirty-Seven Factors and the Four Measureless States
The four applications of mindfulness and the four right exertions — these thirty-seven factors of the path are what he practices; kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity — these four measureless dharmas set his mind in motion.
(The “thirty-seven factors” is the total number of the factors of the path, and the preface names two classes, the applications of mindfulness and the right exertions, as the first, so as to gather in the rest. The “four measureless states” are just the four minds without limit: kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity. The first line speaks of “practice,” the second of “mind”; this too is a matched pair.)
Beyond Reckoning: Both Numbers and Names Run Out
The power of his skillful means is hard to fathom, and the ways in which he answers the capacities of beings, perfectly and without remainder, are many-threaded. He merges with the emptiness of the great void and takes that as his measure — how could numbering ever exhaust it? He can also enter a region as minute as a mustard seed, and that still less can be set out in names and words. The one of whom nothing can be said and for whom no name can be found — it must be, one supposes, none but the Greatly Awakened One.
(“The ways in which he answers capacities perfectly are many-threaded” means this: to whatever capacity, by whatever means, perfectly and without obstruction, in threads beyond measure. At the extreme of largeness numbering runs out, and at the extreme of smallness names and words run out — both ends having run out, there is nothing for it but to say that “nothing can be said of him.”)
The Author’s Own Account: The Prophecy, the Auspicious Responses, and the Tribute from the Four Quarters
In kalpas long past I planted the causes, and so was favored to receive the Buddha’s prophecy. The Buddha having sent down his decree, the verses of the Dayun jing made it manifest first; the jade-adorned imperial seat having received the auspicious sign, the words of the Baoyu jing came after.
(“The Golden Immortal” is an honorific for the Buddha; the “jade screen” is the screen behind the imperial seat, standing for the ruler of men. Here the preface gives its own account of the prophecy it received and the auspicious signs it was granted, verses first and text after, the one before and the other behind. This section is recorded solely on the preface’s own account of itself.)
Add to this that the surplus blessings of accumulated good deeds gathered downward upon this insignificant person of mine, and so there was attained the peace in which the earth is levelled and heaven fulfilled, the rivers run clear and the seas are calm. Extraordinary auspices and rarest of good omens arrived by the day and were written down by the month; the numinous writings on palm leaves too arrived time after time and were abundant year by year. Those who came across the seas and through the deserts had already made complete their offerings of treasure; those who came scaling the heights and sailing the depths had already said all they had to say through relays of interpreters.
(“The earth levelled and heaven fulfilled,” “the rivers running clear and the seas calm,” are images of an age at peace; “arriving by the day and written down by the month” says how many the auspicious responses were — every day some came, every month they were recorded. The last two lines speak of the tribute coming from the four quarters: one route across seas and deserts, the other scaling heights and sailing the deeps.)
What This Sūtra Is: The Secret Treasury of the Buddhas, the Ocean of the Tathāgata’s Nature
This Avataṃsaka Sūtra is precisely the treasury that all the buddhas hold in secret, the ocean formed of the Tathāgata’s nature and virtue. Those who look upon it cannot make out where it is headed; those who dip from it can seldom fathom how far its shores extend.
(“Secret treasury” speaks of its being hidden; “ocean of nature” speaks of its depth and breadth; the one line speaks from the side of the one who looks, the other from the side of the one who draws: the first says that where it is headed cannot be made out, the second that few can fathom how far it extends.)
How High This Sūtra Stands: Neither the Two Vehicles nor the Three Dare Hope for It
Those in the position of learners and those beyond learning cut off in their very aspiration any thought of peering and coveting; the two vehicles of the śrāvakas and the pratyekabuddhas, and the three vehicles as commonly spoken of as well, do not dare to hope to hear and receive this sūtra. The supreme knowledge of all modes — the traces of its adornment are already abundant in this sūtra; Samantabhadra and Mañjuśrī — the causes that are their vows and practices are fulfilled in this sūtra too.
(A “learner” is one still in the positions of training, one “beyond learning” is one whose training has reached its end — this is said with respect to the śrāvaka line. “Peering and coveting” means looking on furtively and giving rise to a wish for it. The first two lines say that this sūtra is beyond the reach of the lesser vehicle; the last two say that in this sūtra both the fruit-virtue and the causal practice are complete: the supreme knowledge of all modes is on the side of the fruit, and the vows and practices of Samantabhadra and Mañjuśrī are on the side of the cause.)
Within a Single Sentence the Boundless Dharma Realm Is Contained
Within a single sentence, the boundlessness of the Dharma realm is contained; within a single hair, numberless buddha-lands are set down and it is not felt to be narrow.
(This is the most important pair of lines in the whole preface: the small does not obstruct the large, and the large does not crowd the small. A single sentence and a single hair are the utterly small; the Dharma realm and the buddha-lands are the utterly large.)
Where the Dharma Was Spoken: The Country of Magadha and the Hall of Universal Light
In the country of Magadha the conditions for this wondrous assembly first arose; in the Dharma hall of Universal Light the principle of quiescence was there spread out.
(One line speaks of the place where he first attained the Way and spoke the Dharma, the other of the place where it was spread out.)
What the Old Translation Lacked: Four Hundred Years, and Only Half a Pearl
Looking back over the deep meaning of this sūtra: it was translated in the time of the Jin dynasty; the time has passed through six dynasties, and the years come to nearly four hundred. Yet of this book that is a whole and complete one, what was obtained at that time was no more than thirty thousand and some words — only half a pearl was opened, and the whole treasure was never seen.
(“The time has passed through six dynasties, the years come to nearly four hundred” speaks of the interval between the Jin translation and the Great Zhou. “Only half a pearl was opened, the whole treasure was never seen” says that the old translation was not mistaken, but that its extent was not complete.)
The Sanskrit Original Came from Khotan
I heard that its Sanskrit original was formerly in the country of Khotan, and so sent envoys to welcome it with due honor, and only recently has it arrived here. Having now seen those wondrous verses numbering a hundred thousand, I have been able to open out those ten myriad of the text proper.
(“The hundred thousand wondrous verses” and “the ten myriad of the text proper” are numbers the preface records for itself; they are set down here as they stand, without being converted.)
The Day the Translation Began: The First Year of Zhengsheng
It was in the first year of Zhengsheng, the year of the cycle being yiwei, in the month whose pitch-pipe is guxian (that is, the third month), on which month the first day was wushen, that on the fourteenth day of that month, the day xinyou, in the Monastery of the Great Universal Emptiness, I myself took part in the setting down and the cutting away, and reverently translated this sūtra.
(“The setting down and the cutting away” means putting brush to paper and deleting what is to be removed; “myself took part in the setting down and the cutting away” is the author’s own statement that she took part in the work in person. As for the place of the translation office and the year and month of the work of translating, what is recorded elsewhere and what the preface records differ from one another in places; that layer is left to the apparatus.)
Two Responses: Sweet Dew and Enriching Rain
Thereupon sweet dew came flowing down in moisture, answering beforehand in a dream on the night of the day gengshen; and an enriching rain fell and soaked the ground, extending afterward to the day renxu. This was the opening of the gate of true reality, and it accorded in return with the moisture that is of a single taste.
(“Answering beforehand in a dream” means the dream first and the response after; “extending afterward” means that it reached further later on. “The moisture that is of a single taste” says that the rain of Dharma makes no distinctions, but moistens all things alike.)
The Day the Translation Was Finished: The Second Year of Shengli
In the second year of Shengli, the year of the cycle being jihai, the tenth month whose first day was renwu, on the eighth day of that month, the day jichou, the work of the fair copying was completed — and this added waves to the ocean of the nature, and opened wider the borders of the Dharma realm.
(“The work of the fair copying was completed” means that the transcription was finished, that is, that the whole book was brought to completion. “Adding waves” and “opening wider the borders” speak of what the new translation added to the text.)
What Teaching This Is: The Sudden Teaching of the Great Vehicle, the True Instrument of the Vaipulya
The sudden teaching of the Great Vehicle covers everywhere to the point of endlessness; the true instrument of the vaipulya reaches far and gathers in all that has consciousness.
(The “instrument” in “true instrument” was originally a trap for catching fish, borrowed here to mean the implement by which the meaning is got; here it means the teaching that is true and can be relied upon. These two lines are the judgment of the character of the teaching that the author of the preface passes on this sūtra herself.)
In the Last Five Hundred Years, Suddenly the Words of the Golden Mouth
Who would have thought that, in the season of the last five hundred years, one would suddenly receive the teaching spoken by the golden mouth; that within the world of Sahā, there would suddenly be opened the secret held in the jeweled casket.
(“The last five hundred years” speaks of a time far removed from the Buddha; “the golden mouth” means what was spoken by the Buddha’s own mouth; “the secret of the jeweled casket” takes a casket of pearls and gems as a figure for the opening of a secret canon.)
What Is Hoped For: To Hang with the Sun and Moon, to Spread through the Ten Directions
What is hoped for is this: to set it forth throughout realms as many as the sands of the Gaṅgā, to proclaim it through regions as many as dust motes; to let it hang on high as long as the two luminaries, and to let it fill the ten directions and be spread abroad forever.
(“Realms as many as the sands” and “regions as many as dust motes” are both ways of saying how far it extends; the “two luminaries” are just the sun and the moon.)
The Joy of Reading the Sūtra
At a single glimpse of these jeweled verses, gladness already overflowed the spirit; going over this profound tenet three times, joy filled body and mind.
(“A single glimpse” and “going over three times” answer each other: at first sight there is already joy, and going over it again the joy is greater.)
Speaking Where There Is Nothing to Say: Why the Preface Was Written
Although it is said that this domain is without speech and without showing, and that the principle accords with the gate of non-duality, nevertheless it is only by relying on words to make words manifest that the meaning of this great thousandfold world can be set forth. Therefore I have presumed to put forward this poor composition, and so have inscribed it as a preface.
(The last section is the author’s explanation of herself: knowing that the principle lies outside of words, why write a preface at all? The answer is in the four graphs rendered “relying on words to make words manifest” — not that words can exhaust the principle, but that without borrowing words there is no way for it to be made manifest. “I have presumed to put forward this poor composition” is a phrase of self-deprecation, and “I have inscribed it as a preface” is the closing of the whole piece.)
為什麼會迷
一部經的序，開頭先講人為什麼迷，這是有用意的。序文說「由是人迷四忍，輪迴於六趣之中；家纏五蓋，沒溺於三塗之下」——迷不是忽然發生的事故，是有名目、有次第的。上一句配輪迴，說的是流轉之廣；下一句配沒溺，說的是墜落之深。這裡要排掉一個誤解：不要把「四忍」與「五蓋」讀成兩個並列的過失清單。序文的句法是一因一果各成一扇：迷了該安忍之處，所以在六趣裡打轉；家家為五種障礙所纏，所以往三塗底下沉。至於「四忍」之目，古來各家所指不一，序文自身未加解釋，此處據實留空，不代之立說。落到讀者身上，這兩句是全序唯一講『我們』的地方——後面所有的高遠，都是對著這個處境說的。
佛何以稱尊
接著序文把佛擺出來：「慧日法王超四大而高視，中天調御越十地以居尊」。要問的是：尊在哪裡？答案在兩個動詞——「超」與「越」。超的是四大所成之身，越的是十地之位。前者說佛不與色身同其局限，後者說佛連菩薩最高的階次都不在其中。這裡最容易讀錯的，是把「越十地」讀成『修過十地』——序文的句意不在履歷而在位次：十地是能到之處，佛則是位次所不收之處。緊接著「包括鐵圍，延促沙劫」一句，把空間與時間補上：橫則一個世界的外圍都在他所包之內，豎則長劫可促、短劫可延。尊之為尊，是不受量所限，不是量得比較大。
體與相
序文用一對句子把佛的體相標定：「其為體也，則不生不滅；其為相也，則無去無來」。為什麼要分兩扇說？因為問的人心裡有兩種疑：一種問『他到底有沒有』，一種問『他現在在哪裡』。前一問由體邊答——不生所以不滅，根本沒有一個生出來的東西可以壞掉；後一問由相邊答——無去所以無來，根本沒有一個離開的東西需要回來。這裡要排掉的誤解是：不生不滅並非說有一個常住不變的東西藏在那裡，無去無來也不是說佛不曾示現往來。序文是就體、就相各自立言，兩句合起來才是一個佛。讀經到後文見「不動而遍」一類語句，其根據就在這一對句子。
佛的行與心
「念處、正勤，三十七品為其行；慈、悲、喜、捨，四無量法運其心。」問：佛既已超越十地，何以還說他有行、有心？答：這裡說的不是佛在修，而是佛所行之法與所運之心即是這些。序文舉念處、正勤兩類為首，用以攝盡三十七道品之全數，這是駢句舉隅之法，不可讀成『佛只修這兩類』。四無量則是慈悲喜捨四種沒有限量的心。要注意「行」與「心」的分工：行是所履之道，心是所運之量。一者說路，一者說懷抱。這兩句在序文中的位置很要緊——它把前面那個『超四大、越十地』的高遠者，重新落回可修可學的名目上，讓讀者知道那條路不是無跡可循。
方便與應機
「方便之力難思，圓對之機多緒」。上一段說佛自己的行與心，這一段轉說他對著眾生的一面。「方便」是能對之法，「圓對」是所對之機；「難思」說其力不可測度，「多緒」說其門頭不一。問：既然佛的行是三十七品、心是四無量，何以還要別說方便？答：行與心是就佛自身立言，方便則是就眾生立言——同一慈悲，落到千差萬別的根機上，就成了千差萬別的施設。序文用「多緒」二字最為要緊：緒是頭緒，一機一緒，機無量故緒無量；不是佛另有一套手段，是應處自然成別。這裡要排掉兩個誤解：一是把「方便」讀成權宜的假話——序文說的是「力」，是能成就眾生的作用，不是退而求其次；二是把「多緒」讀成雜亂——圓對之「圓」，正是說頭緒雖多而不相妨。這兩句在序文中的位置也有用意：前說佛之所行所懷，後說佛之量不可算、不可說；中間插這一句，是讓讀者知道那個不可算不可說者並非高懸不接——他正對著你此刻的根機，而於此有其一緒。
大到算不盡，小到說不出
「混大空而為量，豈算數之能窮？入纖芥之微區，匪名言之可述」。序文在此把兩端都推到極處：大處以太虛之空為自己的量，於是算數失效；小處入於芥子般的微區，於是名言失效。問：既然大處已不可算，何必再說小處？答：不可算只證明它大，不證明它妙；能入極小而不減其大，才是華嚴的講法。這裡要排掉的誤解是把「入纖芥」讀成縮小——序文並沒有說他變小了，只說他能入。所以下句才接「無得而稱者，其唯大覺歟」：不是找不到合適的形容詞，是稱說這件事本身在此處失去了著力點。全序後文「一毫之中，置剎土而非隘」，正是這一句在經義上的續發。
序中自述的一段受記
「金仙降旨，大雲之偈先彰；玉扆披祥，寶雨之文後及。」這是作者自述之語：先有佛所降之旨，偈語彰於前；後有祥瑞之披，經文及於後。讀這一節要守住一個界線——本篇唯依序文自身所述誌錄其文，不作序外之推斷，也不引序外之議論。問：作者為何在一篇經序中插入自敘？答：序文的脈絡是連貫的，前說佛之難稱，此說己之受記與所集之慶，後說由是而有四方來獻、梵本東來——自敘是譯經因緣的一段交代，不是離題。至於此一節在後世如何被論議，非本篇所涉，並錄其文而不判。
這部經的體
到了正面介紹經文，序文只用兩個詞：「斯乃諸佛之密藏，如來之性海」。密藏說其祕——不是藏起來不給人看，是自然不落在淺見的視野裡；性海說其深廣——不是水多，是如來性德本身就以海為量。序文接著從兩種人身上取證：「視之者，莫識其指歸；挹之者，罕測其涯際」。看的人找不到它要往哪裡去，取的人少有能量到它的邊在哪裡的。要排掉的誤解是把「莫識」「罕測」讀成貶語——序文不是說讀者無能，是說此經之量不由讀者的識量決定。這兩個詞後來成為華嚴家常用的稱謂，其在本經序中的出處，即此。
為什麼二乘不敢聽受
「有學、無學，志絕窺覦；二乘、三乘，寧希聽受。」問：聲聞聖者已斷煩惱，何以連希求聽受都不敢？答：序文用的字很準——「志絕」與「寧希」，說的是志願上不敢起這個念頭，不是資格上被排除。有學是修學未究竟者，無學是究竟者，此就聲聞一系說；二乘、三乘則就教門之通說。這裡要排掉的誤解是把這兩句讀成貶抑小乘。序文的用意在標舉此經之高，不在論斷他人之短——高到連已得無學者都不敢窺覦，這是稱經之語，不是評人之語。讀者由此該知道自己面對的是什麼分量的一部書。
果上最勝種智，因上普賢文殊
「最勝種智，莊嚴之迹既隆；普賢、文殊，願行之因斯滿。」一句說果，一句說因。果邊舉最勝種智，說其莊嚴之行迹在此經中已隆；因邊舉普賢與文殊，說願與行之因在此經中得滿。問：為何因邊不舉別的菩薩？答：序文取此二位，正因二人在本經中一主願行、一主智解，合之而因位圓備。要注意「既隆」與「斯滿」兩個字眼——不是說此經談到了因果，是說因果二邊在此經中各得其極。這也解釋了序文為何敢說二乘三乘不敢聽受：不是門檻設得高，是內容本身就在因果兩極上。
一句之內
「一句之內，包法界之無邊；一毫之中，置剎土而非隘。」這是全序最深的一句。問：一句怎麼包得下無邊法界？答：若把「包」讀成裝，當然裝不下；序文說的是攝——義理上無所遺漏，故曰包。澄觀述此經傳通之效時說「一文之妙攝義無遺」，說的正是同一件事：妙不在文字多，在一文之中義無所遺。下半句更進一步：一毫之中安置剎土而不覺其窄，「非隘」二字是眼目——不是塞得進去，是根本沒有擠迫這回事。要排掉的誤解是把它讀成神通變化之談。序文說的是法界本來的樣子，不是誰施了什麼手段。
會處
「摩竭陀國，肇興妙會之緣；普光法堂，爰敷寂滅之理。」序文用兩個地名交代此經的說處：一是最初興起這場法會的因緣之地，一是敷演寂滅之理的堂宇。問：一部經的序，何必記地名？答：華嚴一經的會處本身即是義理的一部分——先在何處成道、次在何處說法，關係到全經七處九會的架構。這裡要排掉的誤解是把「寂滅之理」讀成滅盡。序文以「敷」字配「寂滅」，正說寂滅之理是可敷可演的，不是無話可說之處。讀者到正文見諸會遷處而佛不起座，便知此二句是全經結構的一個縮影。
半顆珠
「緬惟奧義，譯在晉朝；時逾六代，年將四百。然圓一部之典，纔獲三萬餘言，唯啟半珠，未窺全寶。」問：晉譯既已行世將近四百年，何以還說未窺全寶？答：序文的判斷落在分量上，不落在對錯上——「唯啟半珠」是說已開者半，「未窺全寶」是說未見者全。要排掉的誤解是把這幾句讀成貶低舊譯。序文用的是「圓一部之典」與「纔獲」相對：典本身是圓的，所獲者未圓，這是譯事的限度，不是譯人的過失。正因如此，序文下文才要交代梵本從何而來、譯事如何舉行——不是要取代舊譯，是要補它未足之處。
梵本從于闐來
「朕聞其梵本，先在于闐國中，遣使奉迎，近方至此。既覩百千之妙頌，乃披十萬之正文。」序文用四個動作把梵本東來一事說完：聞、遣、迎、至。問：既然舊譯已有六十卷，何必千里求本？答：承上文「未窺全寶」而來——所缺者在梵本，故須訪本而非改譯。「百千之妙頌」「十萬之正文」是序文自記的數目，讀者宜照其字面理解為極言其多，不宜逕作換算。這一節在全序中的作用是承轉：上文說舊譯之憾，下文說新譯之事，中間必須有這一段來歷，譯事才有根據可言。
開譯之日
「粵以證聖元年，歲次乙未，月旅沽洗，朔惟戊申，以其十四日辛酉，於大遍空寺，親受筆削，敬譯斯經。」序文把開譯之日記到年、月、朔、日俱全，這在經序中是罕見的鄭重。問：為何記得這樣細？答：譯經是公事，年月朔日俱書，是要它可稽可考。「親受筆削」四字須看清：筆是下筆，削是刪定，作者自陳親與其事。至於譯場之地，序文自記為大遍空寺，而諸家所記與此互有出入——那一層屬於文獻之異，本篇不在此判，並見承衍。此處只須記住：序文所敘的是一場有時、有地、有人的譯事。
甘露與膏雨
「遂得甘露流津，預夢庚申之夕；膏雨灑潤，後覃壬戌之辰。」序文記兩件感應：一在夢中先現，一在其後延及。問：這樣的記載該如何讀？答：序文自己給了讀法——下接「式開實相之門，還符一味之澤」：甘露膏雨不是祥瑞的堆砌，是用以配「實相之門」與「一味之澤」的。前者說門開，後者說潤普。澄觀述此經傳通感應時亦有「唐翻至教則甘露呈祥」之語，與序所自敘者同其一事，繫屬各別而所指則一。《演義鈔》釋此句時且引本序此二句，而以「以其十四日辛酉初譯，前後各有一日感微」釋庚申、壬戌二夕與辛酉初譯之相去——此是澄觀之解，非序自說。要排掉的誤解是把這兩句讀成序文的裝飾——在序的結構裡，它們是譯事得其應的證言。
繕寫畢功
「以聖曆二年，歲次己亥，十月壬午朔，八日己丑，繕寫畢功；添性海之波瀾，廓法界之疆域。」開譯記日，譯竟也記日，前後相照，一場譯事的首尾就此完整。問：既已譯畢，何以只說「繕寫畢功」？答：繕寫是全部工程的最後一道，繕寫完則書成，故以此標畢。下兩句是序文對這場譯事的自我評價，用的仍是前文的舊喻——性海是先前立的經體，如今添其波瀾；法界是先前說的所包，如今廓其疆域。要注意這裡沒有說『補其闕』而說『添波瀾』：序文的分寸是增其所有，不是改其所無。
序自判的教相
「大乘頓教，普被於無窮；方廣真筌，遐該於有識。」這兩句是序文作者自己給這部經下的教相之判。問：頓教是什麼意思？答：就序文自身的用法看，頓是對漸而言——不假次第而普被，故曰「普被於無窮」。「方廣」是此經之部類，「真筌」的筌本是取魚之器，借指得意之具，合說即真實可依的教法，故曰「遐該於有識」。這裡要守住繫屬：此判出自序文之口，不是後世宗家判教之語，兩者不可混為一談。讀者見後世諸家立教之說，當知其與此序之判各有其所自出。
後五百歲
「豈謂後五百歲，忽奉金口之言；娑婆境中，俄啟珠函之祕。」問：「豈謂」二字何以要緊？答：它是全序語氣的轉折——前文一路是稱經之高、敘事之詳，到此忽作驚喜之辭：想不到在去佛已遠的時節，還能奉到金口所說之言。「忽」與「俄」兩字對出，說的都是不期而遇。要排掉的誤解是把「後五百歲」讀成一個確指的年數表——序文用它是取其『去聖久遠』之意，以顯值遇之難。這一節與前面的「朕曩劫植因」遙相呼應：一說宿因，一說今遇，序文自敘的兩端在此合攏。
無說而說
「雖則無說無示，理符不二之門；然因言顯言，方闡大千之義。」序文以此收束，正面回答一個問題：既知理在言外，何必作序？答案在「因言顯言」四字。問：言既不能盡理，說它做什麼？答：序文沒有說言能盡理，只說不假言則無由顯——前一「言」是能顯之言，後一「言」是所顯之教。上句立不二之理，下句立因言之用，理與用並存而不相礙。要排掉的誤解是把「無說無示」讀成閉口不談。若真如此，此序不必作，此經亦不必譯。所以末句說「輒申鄙作，爰題序云」——自謙其辭，而終究是要說的。
承衍
本序的承衍不在義理諸論，而在譯史一線。澄觀於經疏中立四本之說：「此經前後通唯二譯，并其補闕，四本不同」——一為晉義熙中覺賢所譯之六十卷，二為永隆中日照所補之入法界品脫文，三即本序所題之新譯，四為賢首以新舊兩經勘以梵本、將日照補文安於脫處者。澄觀判云「今之所傳即第四本」。這一判語對讀本序的人極要緊：序作於第三本既成之時，故序中「敬譯斯經」所指為第三本，而今日所持之八十卷已是第四本——序與今本之間，隔著一次勘補。
御批一篇是本序的同體之文，其繫屬有三層，須逐層分明。澄觀《演義鈔》釋疏語「親紆御筆」，先引傳文云「新經初譯之後，佛授記寺諸大德請藏和尚講」，次記十月十五日奉勅開講，至十二月十二日晚講至華藏世界海震動之文而講堂震動之事，末錄御筆之批：「昨因敷演微言、弘揚祕賾，初譯之日，夢甘露以呈祥；開講之辰，感地動而標異」。是澄觀引傳、傳錄御批、御批出自本序同一作者之手——三層各有其人，引用時不可併作一人之語。御批中「初譯之日，夢甘露以呈祥」與本序「遂得甘露流津，預夢庚申之夕」，是同一人記同一事的兩篇文字，互相為證。
譯事在諸家記載中互有出入：譯場之地，序自記為大遍空寺，經疏作佛授記寺，諸錄傳則兼舉大內大遍空寺與佛授記寺；譯主之名義有喜學、喜覺、學喜三譯；同譯人名、歸國送使之名與送舌之日，諸家亦各有小異。此皆古德成說，逐條並錄而不判孰是，詳見考據。至於本序在華嚴一宗的判教諸論中是否被引，本篇未核，與已標闕之項分列，不相充代。
Why Beings Go Astray
That the preface to a sūtra should begin by speaking of why people go astray is deliberate. It says: “for this reason people lost their way as to the four forbearances, and turn round and round within the six destinies; household after household is bound up by the five hindrances, and sinks and drowns beneath the three evil paths.” Delusion is not an accident that suddenly befalls one; it has names, and it has an order. The first line is matched with turning round and round, and speaks of the breadth of that flowing on; the second is matched with sinking and drowning, and speaks of the depth of that falling. One misreading must be cleared away here: do not read “the four forbearances” and “the five hindrances” as two parallel lists of faults. The syntax of the preface makes each line a single leaf of the door, with a cause and its effect: having lost one’s way as to what should be borne with patience, one goes round within the six destinies; household after household being bound by five obstructions, they sink toward the bottom of the three evil paths. As for the items of the four forbearances, what the various masters of old took them to be does not agree, and the preface itself adds no explanation; here the place is left blank as the record stands, and no account is put in its stead. Brought down to the reader, these two lines are the only place in the whole preface that speaks of ‘us’ — everything lofty that follows is spoken with this situation in view.
Why the Buddha Is Called Honored
The preface then sets the Buddha before us: “the Dharma King whose wisdom is a sun looks out from on high, having passed beyond the four great elements; the Tamer of Beings in mid-heaven dwells in honor, having gone past the ten grounds.” The question to ask is: wherein does the honor lie? The answer is in the two verbs — “passing beyond” and “going past.” What is passed beyond is the body made of the four great elements; what is gone past is the position of the ten grounds. The first says that the Buddha does not share the limits of a physical body; the second says that not even the highest of the bodhisattva stages is where he is. What is most easily misread here is to take “going past the ten grounds” as ‘having cultivated his way through the ten grounds’ — the sense of the line is not a career but a position: the ten grounds are a place that can be reached, while the Buddha is what no position takes in. The line that follows immediately, “he takes in the Iron Ring, he lengthens and shortens kalpas as many as the sands,” supplies space and time: horizontally, the outer wall of a whole world is within what he takes in; vertically, a long kalpa can be shortened and a short one lengthened. His being honored is a matter of not being bounded by measure, not of measuring larger.
Substance and Characteristic
The preface fixes the Buddha’s substance and characteristic with a matched pair of lines: “spoken of as to his substance, he neither arises nor ceases; spoken of as to his characteristic, he neither goes nor comes.” Why say it in two leaves? Because the one who asks has two doubts in mind: one asks ‘does he exist at all,’ the other asks ‘where is he now.’ The first question is answered from the side of substance — because there is no arising there is no ceasing, since there is simply no thing that has come to be that could be destroyed. The second is answered from the side of characteristic — because there is no going there is no coming, since there is simply no thing that has departed that would need to return. The misreading to be cleared away here is this: “neither arising nor ceasing” does not say that there is some permanent unchanging thing hidden away in there, and “neither going nor coming” does not say that the Buddha never manifested any coming or going. The preface is speaking with respect to substance and with respect to characteristic separately, and only the two lines together make one Buddha. When, further on in the sūtra, the reader meets phrases of the kind “without moving, yet everywhere,” their ground lies in this pair of lines.
The Buddha’s Practice and His Mind
“The applications of mindfulness and the right exertions, the thirty-seven factors, are his practice; kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity, the four measureless dharmas, set his mind in motion.” Question: since the Buddha has already gone past the ten grounds, why is he still said to have a practice and a mind? Answer: what is spoken of here is not the Buddha cultivating, but that the dharmas he practices and the mind he sets in motion just are these. The preface names two classes, the applications of mindfulness and the right exertions, as the first, so as to gather in the whole number of the thirty-seven factors of the path; this is the parallel-prose method of naming a part for the whole, and must not be read as ‘the Buddha cultivates only these two classes.’ The four measureless states are the four minds without limit: kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity. Note the division of labor between “practice” and “mind”: practice is the road walked, mind is the measure set in motion. The one speaks of the path, the other of what is held in the heart. The place of these two lines in the preface matters a great deal — they bring that lofty one who ‘passed beyond the four elements and went past the ten grounds’ back down onto names that can be cultivated and learned, so that the reader knows that road is not one without tracks to follow.
Skillful Means and the Meeting of Capacities
“The power of his skillful means is hard to fathom, and the capacities he answers perfectly are many-threaded.” The section above spoke of the Buddha’s own practice and his own mind; this line turns to the side of him that faces living beings. “Skillful means” is what does the meeting, “answering perfectly” is what is met; “hard to fathom” says that the power of it cannot be taken the measure of, and “many-threaded” says that the doors it opens are not of one kind. Question: since the Buddha’s practice is the thirty-seven factors and his mind the four measureless states, why should skillful means be spoken of separately at all? Answer: practice and mind are stated from the side of the Buddha himself, while skillful means is stated from the side of living beings — one and the same compassion, coming down upon capacities that differ by a thousand degrees, becomes a thousand different provisions. The two graphs rendered “many-threaded” carry the most weight here: a thread is a thread of the matter, one capacity one thread, and because capacities are without number the threads are without number; it is not that the Buddha keeps a second set of devices, but that difference arises of itself in the meeting. Two misreadings must be cleared away. The first is to read “skillful means” as an expedient falsehood — the preface speaks of a power, a working that brings beings to completion, not of a second best. The second is to read “many-threaded” as disorder — the “perfectly” in “answering perfectly” says precisely that the threads, many as they are, do not obstruct one another. The place of this line in the preface is deliberate as well: before it stands what the Buddha practices and what he holds in his heart, and after it stands the measure of him that no counting and no naming can reach. This line set between them is there so that the reader knows that the one beyond counting and naming is not hung up out of reach — he is facing your capacity at this moment, and for it he has his one thread.
Too Large to Be Counted, Too Small to Be Said
“He merges with the great emptiness and takes it as his measure — how could numbering exhaust it? He enters the minute region of a mustard seed — it is not what names and words can set out.” Here the preface pushes both ends to their limit: at the large end he takes the emptiness of the great void as his own measure, and so numbering fails; at the small end he enters a region as fine as a mustard seed, and so names and words fail. Question: since it is already beyond counting at the large end, why speak of the small end as well? Answer: being beyond counting proves only that he is vast, not that he is wondrous; to be able to enter the utterly small without any lessening of the vast — that is the Huayan way of putting it. The misreading to be cleared away here is to read “entering a mustard seed” as shrinking — the preface does not say that he became small, only that he can enter. And this is why the next line follows with “the one of whom nothing can be said — it must be, one supposes, none but the Greatly Awakened One”: it is not that no fitting adjective can be found, but that the very act of predication has lost its purchase at this point. The later line of the preface, “within a single hair, buddha-lands are set down and it is not cramped,” is precisely the continuation of this line in the sūtra’s own terms.
A Passage of the Preface’s Own Account of a Prophecy Received
“The Golden Immortal sent down his decree, and the verses of the Dayun jing made it manifest first; the jade screen received the auspicious sign, and the words of the Baoyu jing came after.” These are the author’s own words about herself: first there was the decree sent down by the Buddha, and the verses made it manifest first; afterward there was the receiving of the auspicious sign, and the scriptural text came after. In reading this section one boundary must be kept: this piece records these words solely on the preface’s own account of itself, drawing no inference from outside the preface and citing no discussion from outside it. Question: why should the author insert an account of herself into the preface of a sūtra? Answer: the thread of the preface is continuous — before this it spoke of how the Buddha is beyond predication, here it speaks of the prophecy she received and the blessings she gathered, and after this it speaks of how thereby the tribute came from the four quarters and the Sanskrit original came east. The self-account is a passage setting out the conditions under which the sūtra came to be translated; it is not a digression. As for how this section came to be discussed in later ages, that is not what this piece treats; the words are recorded without adjudication.
The Substance of This Sūtra
Coming to a direct presentation of the sūtra, the preface uses only two words: “this is the secret treasury of all the buddhas, the ocean of the Tathāgata’s nature.” Secret treasury speaks of its being hidden — not that it is put away where no one may look at it, but that it naturally does not fall within the field of shallow sight; ocean of nature speaks of its depth and breadth — not that there is much water, but that the Tathāgata’s own nature and virtue takes the ocean as its measure. The preface then takes its evidence from two kinds of person: “those who look upon it cannot make out where it is headed; those who dip from it can seldom fathom how far its shores extend.” One who looks cannot find where it is going; one who draws from it can seldom measure where its edge is. The misreading to be cleared away is to read “cannot make out” and “can seldom fathom” as terms of disparagement — the preface is not saying that readers are incapable, but that the measure of this sūtra is not settled by the measure of the reader’s understanding. These two words later became common designations among the masters of the Huayan house, and their source in this preface to the sūtra is just here.
Why the Two Vehicles Do Not Dare to Hear and Receive It
“Learners and those beyond learning cut off in their aspiration all peering and coveting; the two vehicles and the three vehicles do not dare to hope to hear and receive it.” Question: the noble ones of the śrāvaka path have already cut off the afflictions; why then do they not dare even to wish to hear and receive it? Answer: the preface’s words are exact — “cut off in their aspiration” and “do not dare to hope” speak of not daring to give rise to the thought in one’s aspiration, not of being excluded by lack of qualification. A learner is one whose training is not yet finished, one beyond learning is one whose training is finished; this is said with respect to the śrāvaka line, while the two vehicles and three vehicles are spoken of in the common terms of the teaching-gates. The misreading to be cleared away here is to read these two lines as a disparagement of the lesser vehicle. The preface’s purpose is to set forth the height of this sūtra, not to pass judgment on the shortcomings of others — so high that even one who has attained the state beyond learning does not dare to peer at it: this is language in praise of a sūtra, not language appraising persons. From this the reader should know what weight of book he is facing.
Supreme Knowledge of All Modes on the Side of the Fruit, Samantabhadra and Mañjuśrī on the Side of the Cause
“The supreme knowledge of all modes — the traces of its adornment are already abundant; Samantabhadra and Mañjuśrī — the causes that are their vows and practices are here fulfilled.” One line speaks of the fruit, one of the cause. On the side of the fruit it names supreme knowledge of all modes, saying that the traces of its adorning practice are already abundant in this sūtra; on the side of the cause it names Samantabhadra and Mañjuśrī, saying that the causes that are vow and practice are fulfilled in this sūtra. Question: why does the causal side name no other bodhisattvas? Answer: the preface takes these two precisely because in this sūtra the one presides over vow and practice and the other over knowledge and understanding, so that together the causal position is complete. Note the two expressions “already abundant” and “here fulfilled” — the point is not that this sūtra mentions cause and fruit, but that in it both cause and fruit reach their utmost. This also explains why the preface dares to say that the two vehicles and the three do not dare to hear and receive it: it is not that the threshold has been set high, but that the content itself stands at both extremes of cause and fruit.
Within a Single Sentence
“Within a single sentence, the boundlessness of the Dharma realm is contained; within a single hair, buddha-lands are set down and it is not cramped.” This is the deepest sentence in the whole preface. Question: how can one sentence contain the boundless Dharma realm? Answer: if “contain” is read as holding things inside, of course it will not hold them; what the preface speaks of is gathering in — nothing of the meaning is left out, and so it is called containing. Chengguan, describing the effect of this sūtra’s transmission, says that “the wonder of a single line gathers in the meaning without remainder,” which speaks of exactly the same thing: the wonder does not lie in a great many words, but in the fact that within a single line nothing of the meaning is left out. The second half goes one step further: within a single hair buddha-lands are set down without its being felt to be narrow, and the words “not cramped” are the eye of the line — it is not that they can be squeezed in, but that there is simply no such thing as crowding here. The misreading to be cleared away is to take this as talk of miraculous transformation. The preface is speaking of how the Dharma realm is to begin with, not of some device that someone has applied.
The Places of the Assemblies
“In the country of Magadha the conditions for the wondrous assembly first arose; in the Dharma hall of Universal Light the principle of quiescence was there spread out.” The preface uses two place-names to set out where this sūtra was spoken: the one where the conditions for this Dharma assembly first arose, the other the hall where the principle of quiescence was expounded. Question: why should the preface to a sūtra record place-names at all? Answer: in the Avataṃsaka the places of the assemblies are themselves a part of the doctrine — where he first attained the Way and where he next spoke the Dharma bears on the whole structure of seven places and nine assemblies. The misreading to be cleared away here is to read “the principle of quiescence” as extinction. The preface pairs the verb “spread out” with “quiescence,” which says precisely that the principle of quiescence is something that can be spread out and expounded, not a place where there is nothing to say. When the reader comes to the main text and sees the assemblies shifting from place to place while the Buddha does not rise from his seat, he will know that these two lines are a miniature of the structure of the whole sūtra.
Half a Pearl
“Looking back over the deep meaning, it was translated in the Jin dynasty; the time has passed through six dynasties, and the years come to nearly four hundred. Yet of this book that is a whole and complete one, no more than thirty thousand and some words were obtained — only half a pearl was opened, and the whole treasure was never seen.” Question: since the Jin translation had already been current for nearly four hundred years, why is it still said that the whole treasure was never seen? Answer: the preface’s judgment falls on extent, not on correctness — “only half a pearl was opened” says that half has been opened, “the whole treasure was never seen” says that the whole has not been seen. The misreading to be cleared away is to read these lines as a disparagement of the old translation. The preface sets “this book that is a whole and complete one” over against the words “no more was obtained”: the book itself is whole, while what was obtained was not whole; this is a limit of the work of translating, not a fault of the translator. Just because of this, the preface must go on below to set out where the Sanskrit original came from and how the work of translating was carried out — the point is not to replace the old translation but to make up what it lacked.
The Sanskrit Original Came from Khotan
“I heard that its Sanskrit original was formerly in the country of Khotan, and sent envoys to welcome it with due honor, and only recently has it arrived here. Having seen the hundred thousand wondrous verses, I then opened out the ten myriad of the text proper.” The preface finishes the matter of the Sanskrit original coming east in four actions: hearing, sending, welcoming, arriving. Question: since the old translation already ran to sixty fascicles, why seek an original a thousand leagues away? Answer: it follows from “the whole treasure was never seen” above — what was lacking lay in the Sanskrit original, and so an original had to be sought rather than the translation revised. “The hundred thousand wondrous verses” and “the ten myriad of the text proper” are figures the preface records for itself, and the reader would do well to take them at face value as a way of saying how very many they were, rather than converting them outright. The function of this section within the whole preface is to turn the argument: above it spoke of what the old translation lacked, below it will speak of the work of the new translation, and between them there must be this passage of provenance before the work of translating has any ground to stand on.
The Day the Translation Began
“It was in the first year of Zhengsheng, the year being yiwei, in the month whose pitch-pipe is guxian, of which month the first day was wushen, that on its fourteenth day, xinyou, in the Monastery of the Great Universal Emptiness, I myself took part in the setting down and the cutting away, and reverently translated this sūtra.” The preface records the day the translation began complete with year, month, first day of the month, and day, which is a rare degree of gravity in a preface to a sūtra. Question: why record it in such detail? Answer: translating a sūtra was public business, and to write down the year, the month, the first day, and the day is to make it something that can be checked and verified. The four graphs rendered “myself took part in the setting down and the cutting away” must be seen clearly: setting down is putting brush to paper, cutting away is deleting what is to be removed, and the author states of herself that she took part in the work in person. As for the site of the translation office, the preface records for itself the Monastery of the Great Universal Emptiness, while what the various masters record differs from this in places — that layer belongs to divergence among the documents, and this piece does not adjudicate it here; see the Lineage section. Here it is enough to remember this: what the preface relates is a work of translation with a time, a place, and persons.
Sweet Dew and Enriching Rain
“Thereupon sweet dew came flowing in moisture, answering beforehand in a dream on the night of gengshen; an enriching rain fell and soaked the ground, extending afterward to the day renxu.” The preface records two responses: one appearing first in a dream, the other extending afterward. Question: how should such a record be read? Answer: the preface itself supplies the way of reading it — what follows immediately is “this opened the gate of true reality, and accorded in return with the moisture of a single taste”: the sweet dew and the enriching rain are not a heaping-up of auspices, but are used to match “the gate of true reality” and “the moisture of a single taste.” The former speaks of a gate opening, the latter of a moistening that is universal. Chengguan, in describing the responses attending this sūtra’s transmission, likewise has the words “when the highest teaching was translated under the Tang, sweet dew presented an auspice,” which is the same event as the one the preface relates of itself, the attribution being separate while what is pointed to is one. The Yanyi chao, glossing that line, goes on to cite these two lines of the preface, and explains the interval between the nights of gengshen and renxu and the first translating on xinyou by saying that “because the first translating was on the fourteenth day, xinyou, there was a subtle response one day on either side of it” — this is Chengguan’s explanation, not the preface speaking for itself. The misreading to be cleared away is to read these two lines as ornament in the preface — within the structure of the preface they are testimony that the work of translating met with its response.
The Fair Copying Completed
“In the second year of Shengli, the year being jihai, the tenth month whose first day was renwu, on the eighth day, jichou, the fair copying was completed; this added waves to the ocean of the nature and opened wider the borders of the Dharma realm.” The day of beginning is recorded, and the day of finishing is recorded too, the two answering each other, so that the whole course of a work of translation is complete from head to tail. Question: since the translating was finished, why speak only of “the fair copying completed”? Answer: the fair copying is the last stage of the whole undertaking, and when it is done the book exists; hence it stands for completion. The two lines that follow are the preface’s own appraisal of this work of translating, and they still use the old figures from above — the ocean of the nature was the substance of the sūtra set up earlier, and now waves are added to it; the Dharma realm was what was said earlier to be contained, and now its borders are opened wider. Note that it does not say ‘made up what was missing’ but ‘added waves’: the preface’s sense of proportion is that it increased what was there, not that it altered what was not.
The Character of the Teaching as the Preface Judges It
“The sudden teaching of the Great Vehicle covers everywhere to the point of endlessness; the true instrument of the vaipulya reaches far and gathers in all that has consciousness.” These two lines are the judgment on the character of the teaching that the author of the preface passes on this sūtra herself. Question: what does “sudden teaching” mean? Answer: taken as the preface itself uses the word, sudden is said over against gradual — it covers everywhere without borrowing a sequence of stages, and so it is said to “cover everywhere to the point of endlessness.” “Vaipulya” is the class to which this sūtra belongs, and the “instrument” in “true instrument” was originally a trap for catching fish, borrowed to mean the implement by which the meaning is got; put together, it means the teaching that is true and can be relied upon, and so it is said to “reach far and gather in all that has consciousness.” The attribution must be kept firm here: this judgment issues from the mouth of the preface, and is not the classificatory language of the later masters of the house; the two must not be confounded. When the reader meets the doctrines of classification set up by the various later masters, he should know that they and the judgment of this preface each have their own source.
The Last Five Hundred Years
“Who would have thought that in the last five hundred years one would suddenly receive the words of the golden mouth; that within the realm of Sahā the secret of the jeweled casket would of a sudden be opened.” Question: why do the words “who would have thought” matter? Answer: they are the turn in the tone of the whole preface — up to this point it has been praising the height of the sūtra and relating events in detail, and here it turns of a sudden into an expression of astonished delight: who would have thought that in a season far removed from the Buddha one could still receive words spoken by the golden mouth. The two words “suddenly” and “of a sudden” answer each other, and both speak of an encounter that was not looked for. The misreading to be cleared away is to read “the last five hundred years” as a precise reckoning of a number of years — the preface uses it for its sense of ‘far removed from the holy ones,’ so as to show how hard such a meeting is to come by. This section answers at a distance to the earlier line “in kalpas long past I planted the causes”: the one speaks of the cause laid down long ago, the other of the meeting today, and the two ends of the preface’s account of itself close together here.
Speaking Where There Is Nothing to Say
“Although there is neither speech nor showing, and the principle accords with the gate of non-duality, yet it is by relying on words to make words manifest that the meaning of the great thousandfold world is set forth.” With this the preface closes, answering a question head-on: knowing that the principle lies outside words, why write a preface? The answer is in the four graphs rendered “relying on words to make words manifest.” Question: if words cannot exhaust the principle, what is the use of speaking? Answer: the preface does not say that words can exhaust the principle, only that without borrowing words there is no way for it to be made manifest — the first “words” are the words that make manifest, the second are the teaching that is made manifest. The upper line establishes the principle of non-duality, the lower establishes the use of relying on words; principle and use stand together without obstructing each other. The misreading to be cleared away is to read “neither speech nor showing” as keeping one’s mouth shut. Were that so, this preface need not have been written, nor this sūtra translated. And so the closing line says, “I have presumed to put forward this poor composition, and so have inscribed it as a preface” — deprecating her own words, and in the end saying them all the same.
Lineage
The lineage of this preface lies not in the treatises on doctrine but along the single line of the history of the translations. Chengguan, in his commentary on the sūtra, sets up the doctrine of four versions: “this sūtra was translated, in all, twice only; adding the supplying of what was missing, there are four versions, not the same.” The first is the sixty fascicles translated by Buddhabhadra in the Yixi period of the Jin; the second is Divākara’s supplying, in the Yonglong period, of the text missing from the Entry into the Dharma Realm chapter; the third is the new translation that this preface heads; and the fourth is Xianshou’s, who collated the new and the old scriptures against the Sanskrit original and set Divākara’s supplement into the place where the text had dropped out. Chengguan judges that “what is transmitted today is the fourth version.” This judgment matters greatly to one reading this preface: the preface was composed when the third version had just been completed, so that “reverently translated this sūtra” in the preface refers to the third version, while the eighty fascicles held in the hand today are already the fourth — between the preface and the present text there stands one collation and supplying.
The imperial rescript is a piece by the same hand as this preface, and its attribution has three layers, which must be kept distinct one by one. Chengguan’s Yanyi chao, glossing the phrase of the commentary “she herself took up the imperial brush,” first cites the biography as saying that “after the new sūtra had first been translated, the senior masters of the Monastery of the Buddha’s Prophecy invited the reverend Fazang to lecture on it,” next records how the lecturing was opened by imperial order on the fifteenth day of the tenth month, and how on the evening of the twelfth day of the twelfth month, when the lecture reached the passage on the shaking of the ocean of worlds of the Flower Treasury, the lecture hall shook, and last sets down the rescript in the imperial brush: “yesterday, on account of the setting forth of subtle words and the spreading abroad of the secret and profound, on the day of the first translating a dream of sweet dew presented an auspice; at the hour of the opening of the lectures, the earth was felt to move and marked it as extraordinary.” Thus Chengguan cites the biography, and the biography sets down the imperial rescript, and the rescript issues from the same hand as this preface — three layers, each with its own author, which must not be run together into the words of one person when they are cited. The rescript’s “on the day of the first translating a dream of sweet dew presented an auspice” and the preface’s “thereupon sweet dew came flowing in moisture, answering beforehand in a dream on the night of gengshen” are two pieces of writing by one person recording one event, each bearing witness to the other.
The work of translating differs from record to record among the various masters. As to the site of the translation office, the preface records for itself the Monastery of the Great Universal Emptiness, the commentary has the Monastery of the Buddha’s Prophecy, and the catalogues and biographies name both the Monastery of the Great Universal Emptiness within the palace and the Monastery of the Buddha’s Prophecy. As to the sense of the chief translator’s name, three renderings stand: Joy in Learning, Joy and Awakening, and Learning and Joy. The names of those who translated together with him, the name of the envoy who escorted him home, and the day on which his tongue was sent back also differ in small ways from one record to another. These are all settled accounts of the masters of old, recorded one by one without adjudicating which is right; see the apparatus in detail. As to whether this preface is cited in the various works on doctrinal classification of the Huayan house, this piece has not collated the matter; it is listed apart from the items marked as absent, and neither stands in for the other.
考據Apparatus
本單元為八十華嚴卷首之御製序，非經文而為序文：說者即作者，武周則天皇帝自署「天冊金輪聖神皇帝製」，通篇第一人稱。序有三事：一以四六駢句總敘天道人文與迷悟之際，讚佛德不可稱；二自敘受記瑞應與四方來獻；三敘此經之體、晉譯之不足、梵本來歷、譯場起訖與感應，末以「因言顯言」自解作序之由。澄觀《華嚴經疏》卷三「第八傳譯感通」立「四本不同」之說，正為此序所敘譯事之疏家定位；《演義鈔》錄則天御批全文，是本序作者之另一篇同體之文。古德於本序未見全篇連續之逐句注，唯《演義鈔》有局部引序解說（見考據目六），考據目六於全篇逐句注據實標闕，餘以譯史之異並錄不判。
一、科判定位
| 定位系統 | 此序之位 |
|---|---|
| 底本 T279 | 卷首御製序：題「大周新譯大方廣佛華嚴經序」〔T10n0279 0001a03〕· 署「天冊金輪聖神皇帝製」〔0001a05〕· 正文「蓋聞」起〔0001a06〕–「輒申鄙作，爰題序云」訖〔0001b18〕；其後 0001b22 為卷一經題，不屬本單元 |
| 澄觀《華嚴經疏》 | 序文不入經文科判之內；本序所敘譯事，疏另立於卷三玄談第八門「第八傳譯感通，分二：先明翻譯年代、後明傳通感徵」〔T35n1735 0523c22〕 |
| 澄觀《演義鈔》 | 釋疏語「親紆御筆」處錄則天御批全文〔T36n1736 0114a05 起〕；又釋「大賢闡揚於東夏」〔T36n1736 0013c25〕、辨實叉難陀之鄉貫〔T36n1736 0035a05〕 |
| 法藏《探玄記》· 李通玄《新華嚴經論》 | 標闕：二書於本序無逐文釋 |
| 智儼《搜玄記》 | 標闕：智儼所疏為六十本，早於八十本之譯，於本序無涉 |
四本不同——本序所謂「譯在晉朝」與「敬譯斯經」之間的譯史，澄觀立四本以攝之：
「此經前後通唯二譯，并其補闕，四本不同」〔T35n1735 0523c24〕
四本各為：
「一晉義熙十四年，北天竺三藏佛度跋陀羅，此云覺賢，於楊州謝司空寺翻梵本，三萬六千頌，成晉經五十卷、或六十卷」〔T35n1735 0523c25〕，「沙門法業筆受，慧嚴、慧觀潤色」〔0523c28〕
「二大唐永隆元年中，天竺三藏地婆訶羅，此云日照，於西京大原寺，譯出〈入法界品〉」〔T35n1735 0523c29〕
「三證聖元年，于闐三藏實叉難陀，此云喜學，於東都佛授記寺再譯舊文，兼補諸闕」〔T35n1735 0524a08〕，「計益九千頌，通舊總四萬五千頌，合成唐本八十卷」〔0524a10〕
「即賢首法師以新舊兩經勘以梵本，將日照補文，安喜學脫處，遂得文續義連」〔T35n1735 0524a16〕，「今之所傳即第四本」〔0524a18〕
本序所題者為第三本；今傳八十卷之文則已是第四本——序作於補闕之前，此為讀序者當先分辨之事。
二、術語
| 漢 | 古德傳梵（發音輔助） | 所徵 | 精義 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 四忍 | 音寫從闕 | 「由是人迷四忍，輪迴於六趣之中」〔T10n0279 0001a08〕 | 序以「迷四忍」與「纏五蓋」對舉為輪迴之因。四忍之目，本考據未得古德就本序之定說，據實標闕 |
| 五蓋 | 音寫從闕 | 「家纏五蓋，沒溺於三塗之下」〔T10n0279 0001a09〕 | 蓋覆心性、令善不生之五種障；序以之為沒溺三塗之因 |
| 六趣·三塗 | 音寫從闕 | 同上〔T10n0279 0001a08〕 | 六趣＝眾生受生之六類去處；三塗＝其中最苦之三（地獄·餓鬼·畜生）。序以六趣配「輪迴」、三塗配「沒溺」 |
| 三十七品 | 音寫從闕 | 「念處、正勤，三十七品為其行」〔T10n0279 0001a13〕 | 道品之總數；序舉念處·正勤為首以攝其餘，判為佛之「行」 |
| 四無量 | 音寫從闕 | 「慈、悲、喜、捨，四無量法運其心」〔T10n0279 0001a14〕 | 慈悲喜捨四種無限量之心；序判為佛之「心」，與三十七品之「行」相對成雙 |
| 十地 | 音寫從闕 | 「中天調御越十地以居尊」〔T10n0279 0001a11〕 | 菩薩聖位十階；序以佛「越十地」明其非位所收 |
| 鐵圍 | 音寫從闕 | 「包括鐵圍，延促沙劫」〔T10n0279 0001a11〕 | 一世界之外圍山；序以空間之「包括鐵圍」對時間之「延促沙劫」 |
| 密藏·性海 | 音寫從闕 | 「斯乃諸佛之密藏，如來之性海」〔T10n0279 0001a24〕 | 序判此經之體：諸佛所祕之藏、如來性德如海。目五詳之 |
| 半珠·全寶 | 音寫從闕 | 「唯啟半珠，未窺全寶」〔T10n0279 0001b03〕 | 序以珠寶之半全喻晉譯與新譯之分量，非謂晉譯有誤 |
| 頓教·方廣 | 音寫從闕 | 「大乘頓教，普被於無窮；方廣真筌，遐該於有識」〔T10n0279 0001b12〕 | 序自判此經之教相為大乘頓教、方廣真筌。此為序文自身之判語，非後世五教判 |
| 不二 | 音寫從闕 | 「理符不二之門」〔T10n0279 0001b17〕 | 無說無示而理自符；序以之立「因言顯言」之根據 |
| 金仙·玉扆 | 音寫從闕 | 「金仙降旨，大雲之偈先彰；玉扆披祥，寶雨之文後及」〔T10n0279 0001a18〕 | 金仙＝佛之美稱；玉扆＝御座之屏，代指人主。序以此二語對舉受記與呈祥二事 |
| 貝牒 | 音寫從闕 | 「貝牒靈文，亦時臻而歲洽」〔T10n0279 0001a21〕 | 貝葉所書之經文；序以之與「殊禎絕瑞」並敘為所集之祥 |
| 大遍空寺 | — | 「於大遍空寺，親受筆削，敬譯斯經」〔T10n0279 0001b07〕 | 序所記之譯場。與疏、錄、傳所記互有出入，見目六 |
三、譬喻·修辭
(一) 全篇體式：四六駢儷之對句——序無一段散行，通篇以四六對句成文，如「其為體也，則不生不滅；其為相也，則無去無來」〔T10n0279 0001a12〕、「一句之內，包法界之無邊；一毫之中，置剎土而非隘」〔0001a28〕。讀序者須知：其義理之開合往往即在對句之兩扇，一扇說體、一扇說相，一扇說廣、一扇說狹。
(二) 日喻——「慧日法王超四大而高視，中天調御越十地以居尊」〔T10n0279 0001a10〕：喻依為日在中天；喻體為佛；所顯義為超出四大所成之身而高視、越十地之位而居尊。
(三) 東西之對——「鷲巖西峙，象駕東驅」〔T10n0279 0001a10〕：喻依為靈鷲之山峙於西、白象之駕馳於東；所顯義為法之所自出與法之所東流，一句攝盡佛出世與教東漸兩事。
(四) 半珠·全寶喻——「然圓一部之典，纔獲三萬餘言，唯啟半珠，未窺全寶」〔T10n0279 0001b03〕：喻依為珠寶之開啟；喻體為晉譯六十卷之所得；所顯義為舊譯非誤而未全，故有再譯之舉。
(五) 海喻——「斯乃諸佛之密藏，如來之性海」〔T10n0279 0001a24〕、「添性海之波瀾，廓法界之疆域」〔0001b11〕：以海喻如來性德，以波瀾喻新譯所增之文，以疆域喻法界之開廓。
(六) 大小相形——「混大空而為量，豈算數之能窮？入纖芥之微區，匪名言之可述」〔T10n0279 0001a15〕：極大與極小兩端並舉，一端窮於算數、一端窮於名言，所顯義為佛境之離量離言。
(七) 甘露·膏雨——「遂得甘露流津，預夢庚申之夕；膏雨灑潤，後覃壬戌之辰」〔T10n0279 0001b08〕：以天降之潤喻譯事之感應；澄觀疏述傳通感應亦作「唐翻至教則甘露呈祥」〔T35n1735 0524a21〕，與序自敘同其事。
(八) 兩曜·珠函——「並兩曜而長懸，彌十方而永布」〔T10n0279 0001b15〕以日月喻經之長在；「娑婆境中，俄啟珠函之祕」〔0001b14〕以珠函喻祕典之開。
四、異譯對勘
本序為卷首之御製文，非經之正文，故無異譯可資逐句對勘。據實記其有無：
- 六十華嚴 T09n0278：卷首無御製序。
- 四十華嚴 T10n0293：大正本卷首無序，自卷題、般若譯署、品題直接「如是我聞」〔T10n0293 0661a04–a07〕，全檔無序之科段——記其有無，不作對勘表。
數目誌錄（逐字不換算）——本序自記者三數：「纔獲三萬餘言」〔T10n0279 0001b03〕、「既覩百千之妙頌，乃披十萬之正文」〔0001b05〕；澄觀疏所記者三數：晉本「三萬六千頌」〔T35n1735 0523c27〕、新譯「計益九千頌，通舊總四萬五千頌」〔0524a10〕。序與疏之數各依其所指（言·頌·卷），本考據逐字錄之，不作換算，亦不判其孰是。
五、宗義之經據〔眼〕
(一) 經體：密藏與性海——「斯乃諸佛之密藏，如來之性海」〔T10n0279 0001a24〕；其相則「視之者，莫識其指歸；挹之者，罕測其涯際」〔0001a25〕。序以「藏」明其祕、以「海」明其深廣，為全序判經之總句。
(二) 廣狹無礙之經據——「一句之內，包法界之無邊；一毫之中，置剎土而非隘」〔T10n0279 0001a28〕。一句而含無邊法界、一毫而容剎土不覺其窄，正是華嚴廣狹相即之語。澄觀述傳通感應時亦有同一路數之語：「良以一文之妙攝義無遺，故一偈之功能破地獄」〔T35n1735 0524b01〕——「一文之妙攝義無遺」〔T35n1735 0524b01〕與序之「一句之內，包法界之無邊」，一為疏家之語、一為序作者之語，義脈可相鏈屬。
(三) 體相雙標——「其為體也，則不生不滅；其為相也，則無去無來」〔T10n0279 0001a12〕：以不生不滅標體、以無去無來標相，體相二門並列而不相奪。
(四) 教相自判：頓教·方廣——「大乘頓教，普被於無窮；方廣真筌，遐該於有識」〔T10n0279 0001b12〕。此為序文自身之判教語，繫屬作者而非後世宗家之判。
(五) 言與無言——「雖則無說無示，理符不二之門；然因言顯言，方闡大千之義」〔T10n0279 0001b17〕。先立無說無示之理，次立因言顯言之用，二句相承而成序之收束；序末「輒申鄙作，爰題序云」〔0001b18〕即由此出。
(六) 因行與果德——「最勝種智，莊嚴之迹既隆；普賢、文殊，願行之因斯滿」〔T10n0279 0001a27〕：以最勝種智標果、以普賢文殊之願行標因；會處則「摩竭陀國，肇興妙會之緣；普光法堂，爰敷寂滅之理」〔0001a29〕。
六、諸家異釋（古德·標宗）
全篇逐句注標闕·局部引序解說並錄——澄觀《疏》《鈔》於本序未見全篇連續之逐句注：《疏》卷三之文為譯史章。然《演義鈔》有二處局部引序解說，並錄於此：其一，澄觀釋疏語「唐翻至教甘露呈祥」云「則天夢普天降甘露」，即引本序「甘露流津，預夢庚申之夕；膏雨灑潤，後覃壬戌之辰」〔T36n1736 0113c27〕，而以「以其十四日辛酉初譯，前後各有一日感微」〔T36n1736 0113c29〕釋此二夕之相去；其二，澄觀引弘景禪師表文前先案云「案經序中，本於大遍空寺親受筆削」〔T36n1736 0113b25〕，是以本序自記之譯場與筆削對接表文。此二處皆《鈔》之語，非本序自說，繫屬須分明。此外《鈔》所釋者為疏語「親紆御筆」。法藏《探玄記》T35n1733、李通玄《新華嚴經論》T36n1739 於本序無逐文釋。智儼《搜玄記》T35n1732 所疏為六十本，時序上不涉本序。故本目所錄非本序之異釋，而是本序所敘譯事在諸家記載中的出入。
(甲) 譯場地名——序自記「於大遍空寺，親受筆削，敬譯斯經」〔T10n0279 0001b07〕；澄觀疏記「三證聖元年，于闐三藏實叉難陀，此云喜學，於東都佛授記寺再譯舊文，兼補諸闕」〔T35n1735 0524a08〕；《開元釋教錄》記「以天后證聖元年乙未。於東都大內大遍空寺譯華嚴經」〔T55n2154 0566a17〕，又記「後付沙門復禮法藏等。於佛授記寺譯。至聖曆二年己亥功畢」〔T55n2154 0566a20〕；《宋高僧傳》記「以證聖元年乙未於東都大內大遍空寺翻譯」〔T50n2061 0718c24〕、「後付沙門復禮、法藏等於佛授記寺譯成八十卷。聖曆二年功畢」〔T50n2061 0718c27〕；《華嚴經傳記》記「以天后證聖元年乙未。於東都大內遍空寺。譯華嚴經」〔T51n2073 0155a14〕。四說並錄。
(乙) 起訖年月——序記起於「粵以證聖元年，歲次乙未」〔T10n0279 0001b06〕，訖於「以聖曆二年，歲次己亥，十月壬午朔，八日己丑，繕寫畢功」〔T10n0279 0001b10〕；諸錄傳唯記至「聖曆二年己亥功畢」〔T55n2154 0566a21〕而不記月日。序詳而錄略，並錄。
(丙) 同譯人名——澄觀疏所列：「大德義淨三藏、弘景禪師、圓測法師、神英法師、法寶法師、賢首法師等同譯，復禮法師綴文」〔T35n1735 0524a12〕；《開元釋教錄》所列：「天后明揚佛日敬重大乘。以華嚴舊經處會未備。遠聞于闐有斯梵本發使求訪」〔T55n2154 0566a14〕之後，宣梵本者為菩提流志與義淨，付譯者為復禮、法藏等〔T55n2154 0566a20〕。二處人名詳略不同，並錄不判。
(丁) 譯主名義與鄉貫——「沙門實叉難陀。唐云喜學。于闐國人」〔T55n2154 0566a13〕；「大周神都佛授記寺沙門實叉難陀。唐云喜覺。于闐國人」〔T51n2073 0155a10〕；「釋實叉難陀，一云施乞叉難陀，華言學喜，葱嶺北于闐人也」〔T50n2061 0718c19〕；澄觀《鈔》云「實叉三藏于闐國人，多近東北」〔T36n1736 0035a05〕。「喜學」「喜覺」「學喜」三譯名並存，並錄不判。
(戊) 歸國送使之名與日——「勅御史霍嗣光送至于闐」〔T55n2154 0566a28〕；「勅御史崔嗣光。送至于闐」〔T51n2073 0155a25〕。送靈舌歸于闐之日，一作十二月二十三日〔T55n2154 0566b09〕，一作十二月十三日〔T51n2073 0155b07〕。並錄不判。
(己) 天后與序之關係——諸錄傳皆記「天后親臨法座煥發序文。自運仙毫首題名品」〔T55n2154 0566a18〕，《宋高僧傳》文同而標點異：「天后親臨法座，煥發序文，自運仙毫，首題名品」〔T50n2061 0718c25〕。此與本序之為御製自相符應，並錄。
七、互讀·承衍
本序之承衍不在宗義諸論，而在譯史一線：晉譯之不足→日照之補→實叉之再譯→賢首之勘補，即澄觀所立之四本。序作於第三本既成之時，故序中「敬譯斯經」所指為第三本；而讀者今日所持之八十卷，已是第四本——序與今傳之文中間隔著一次勘補，此即本序最要緊的承衍關係。
- 譯史四本鏈——「此經前後通唯二譯，并其補闕，四本不同」〔T35n1735 0523c24〕總標；四本之末云「即賢首法師以新舊兩經勘以梵本，將日照補文，安喜學脫處，遂得文續義連」〔T35n1735 0524a16〕，其判歸屬則云「今之所傳即第四本」〔T35n1735 0524a18〕。澄觀復記第三本猶行於世：其文云世上之經多有脫者，願諸達識見闕而續之〔T35n1735 0524a18–a20〕。
- 御批一篇（三層繫屬）——《演義鈔》釋疏語「親紆御筆」，先引《傳》云「新經初譯之後，佛授記寺諸大德請藏和尚講」〔T36n1736 0114a06〕，次記「至十二月十二日晚上講，講至華藏世界海震動之文」〔T36n1736 0114a08〕、「其講堂內及寺院中忽然震動，于時道俗數千共覩，歎未曾有」〔T36n1736 0114a09〕，末錄「以聖曆三年臘月十九日，則天后親運御筆批云」〔T36n1736 0114a13〕之批文：「昨因敷演微言、弘揚祕賾，初譯之日，夢甘露以呈祥；開講之辰，感地動而標異」〔T36n1736 0114a15〕、「斯乃如來降跡，用符九會之文。豈朕庸虛敢當六種之應」〔T36n1736 0114a16〕、「披覽來狀，欣暢盈懷，宜付所司頒示天下」〔T36n1736 0114a18〕。三層繫屬：澄觀《鈔》引《傳》、《傳》錄御批、御批出自本序同一作者之手——御批之「初譯之日，夢甘露以呈祥」與本序之「遂得甘露流津，預夢庚申之夕」〔T10n0279 0001b08〕，是同一人記同一事之兩篇文字。
- 傳通感應——澄觀疏總述云「自晉譯微言則雙童現瑞，唐翻至教則甘露呈祥，冥衛昭然親紆御筆」〔T35n1735 0524a21〕，又分述書寫「其書寫則經輝五色、楮香四達」〔T35n1735 0524a24〕、講說「講說則華梵通韻、人天共遵」〔T35n1735 0524a29〕。本序所自敘之甘露膏雨二應，即疏所謂「唐翻至教則甘露呈祥」之所本。
- 東夏闡揚之譜系——澄觀《鈔》釋「大賢闡揚於東夏」云「正取覺賢兼餘大德，謂智嚴、法業、日照、實叉等闡揚斯典」〔T36n1736 0013c25〕——覺賢·法業（晉譯）、日照（補闕）、實叉（新譯）同列一譜，本序所敘之譯史即此譜之中段。
- 不立之鏈——世親《十地經論》T26n1522 與唯識承衍諸論，於本序無涉，本單元不立承衍鏈；華嚴宗判教諸論（T45n1866 等）是否引本序之語，本考據未核，與上列標闕之項分列。
八、校本定位
- 底本 T279：御製序〔T10n0279 0001a03〕起–〔0001b19〕訖。題 0001a03 · 署 0001a05 · 「蓋聞」發端 0001a06 · 迷悟句 0001a08 · 佛德段 0001a10–a17 · 自敘受記 0001a17–a23 · 讚經段 0001a24–a29 · 會處 0001a29–b02 · 晉譯不足 0001b02–b04 · 梵本來歷 0001b04–b06 · 譯場起日 0001b06–b08 · 感應 0001b08–b10 · 譯竣 0001b10–b12 · 判教語 0001b12–b13 · 祈願 0001b13–b17 · 言與無言 0001b17–b18 · 結語 0001b18–b19。其後 0001b22 卷一經題、0001b24 譯人題，皆不屬本單元。
- 澄觀《華嚴經疏》T35n1735：卷三「第八傳譯感通」章 0523c22 起–0524b04 訖。四本總標 0523c24 · 第一本 0523c25–c29 · 第二本 0523c29–0524a08 · 第三本 0524a08–a14 · 第四本 0524a14–a18 · 今傳第四本 0524a18 · 傳通感應 0524a20–0524b04（甘露呈祥 0524a21 · 書寫 0524a24 · 講說 0524a29 · 一文之妙 0524b01）。
- 澄觀《演義鈔》T36n1736：御批段 0114a05–a20（傳云 0114a06 · 開講震動 0114a08 · 御筆批 0114a13 · 批文 0114a14–a19）· 大賢闡揚 0013c22–0014a02 · 實叉鄉貫 0035a01–a07。
- 經錄僧傳：《開元釋教錄》T55n2154 卷九實叉難陀條 0566a13–0566b12；《宋高僧傳》T50n2061 卷二實叉難陀傳 0718c18–0719a17；《華嚴經傳記》T51n2073 卷一傳譯第三實叉段 0155a10–0155b09。
- 異譯：六十華嚴 T09n0278 卷首無御製序；四十華嚴 T10n0293 大正本卷首亦無序〔T10n0293 0661a04–a07〕。
- 標闕與未核之分：法藏《探玄記》T35n1733、李通玄《新華嚴經論》T36n1739 於本序 0 逐文釋，智儼《搜玄記》T35n1732 時序不涉——此三者為標闕。華嚴宗判教諸論 T45n1866、T45n1868、T45n1883 是否引用本序之語（密藏·性海·半珠·全寶等），本考據未核——此為未核，與標闕分列，不得互充。
- 異讀：本單元序文範圍〔0001a03〕–〔0001b19〕內校記 11 組（大正原印 9 · CBETA 新增訂字 2），逐條照錄不判（底本【大】｜他本異讀；多本異讀以／分列）：〔0001a03〕大周新譯【大】｜【明】 · 〔0001a05〕天冊金輪聖神皇帝製【大】｜唐武則天製【北藏-CB】 · 〔0001a05〕冊【大】｜策【宮】 · 〔0001a18〕仙【大】｜山【宋】／僊【元】 · 〔0001a21〕牒【大】｜葉【明】 · 〔0001a22〕辭【大】｜詞【宋】【元】【明】 · 〔0001b03〕然圓【CB】｜然【大】／然圓【明】【宮】 · 〔0001b11〕己【CB】【麗-CB】｜巳【大】（歲次己亥） · 〔0001b11〕己【CB】【麗-CB】｜巳【大】（八日己丑） · 〔0001b13〕筌【大】｜詮【明】 · 〔0001b18〕然【大】｜然而【明】。其後經首譯人題〔0001b24〕另有大正原印校記 3 組，不屬本單元，錄以備覽：〔0001b24〕于【大】｜唐于【明】 · 〔0001b24〕藏【大】｜藏沙門【宋】【元】【明】／藏法師【宮】 · 〔0001b24〕奉制【大】｜【宋】【元】【明】【宮】。合計大正原印校記 12 條、CBETA 新增訂字 2 條。
- 異讀補記：夾注已於原典層剝除。
誌錄不判——本目所錄譯場地名之異（大遍空寺·大內大遍空寺·大內遍空寺·佛授記寺）、起訖之詳略、同譯人名之出入、譯主名義之三譯（喜學·喜覺·學喜）、送使之名（霍嗣光·崔嗣光）與送舌之日（二十三日·十三日），皆諸家成說，逐條並錄，不判孰是。序中「金仙降旨，大雲之偈先彰；玉扆披祥，寶雨之文後及」〔T10n0279 0001a18〕一節之受記瑞應，本考據唯依序文自述誌錄其文，不作序外之推斷。
This unit is the imperial preface at the head of the eighty-fascicle Avataṃsaka: not scripture but a preface, in which the speaker is the author. The Empress Wu Zetian of the Great Zhou signs it herself, 「天冊金輪聖神皇帝製」 tr. “Composed by the Sage and Divine Sovereign of the Heaven-Conferred Golden Wheel” , and the whole piece is in the first person. The preface does three things: first, in four-and-six parallel couplets, it gives a general account of the way of heaven and the culture of humankind and of the boundary between delusion and awakening, praising the Buddha’s virtue as beyond all predication; second, it gives its own account of the prophecy received, of the auspicious responses, and of the tribute that came from the four quarters; third, it sets out the substance of this sūtra, the insufficiency of the Jin translation, the provenance of the Sanskrit original, the beginning and the end of the work at the translation office, and the responses that attended it, closing by explaining its own reason for being written with 「因言顯言」 tr. “relying on words to make words manifest” . Chengguan’s Huayan jing shu, fascicle three, sets up as its eighth gate 「第八傳譯感通」 tr. “eighth, the transmission and translating, and the responses obtained” , and there establishes the doctrine of 「四本不同」 tr. “four versions, not the same” , which is precisely the commentator’s placing of the work of translating that this preface relates; the Yanyi chao records the full text of the empress’s imperial rescript, a piece by the same hand as this preface. No continuous phrase-by-phrase gloss on the whole of this preface by the masters of old has been found, though the Yanyi chao does gloss the preface in places (see rubric six); rubric six therefore marks the continuous whole-text gloss absent according to the record, and for the rest sets down the divergences in the history of the translations without adjudication.
I. Doctrinal Outline and Placement
| Outline system | The place of this preface within it |
|---|---|
| The base text T279 | The imperial preface at the head of the volume: titled 「大周新譯大方廣佛華嚴經序」 tr. “Preface to the Newly Translated Great and Vast Buddha Avataṃsaka Sūtra of the Great Zhou” 〔T10n0279 0001a03〕 · signed 「天冊金輪聖神皇帝製」 tr. “Composed by the Sage and Divine Sovereign of the Heaven-Conferred Golden Wheel” 〔0001a05〕 · the text proper beginning at 「蓋聞」 tr. “I have heard” 〔0001a06〕 and ending at 「輒申鄙作，爰題序云」 tr. “I have presumed to put forward this poor composition, and so have inscribed it as a preface” 〔0001b18〕; what stands after it at 0001b22 is the title of the sūtra for fascicle one, which does not belong to this unit |
| Chengguan, Huayan jing shu | The preface does not enter into the outline of the sūtra text itself; for the work of translating that this preface relates, the commentary sets up a separate place in fascicle three, the eighth gate of the general discourse: 「第八傳譯感通，分二：先明翻譯年代、後明傳通感徵」 tr. “Eighth, the transmission and translating, and the responses obtained; it divides in two: first, making clear the years of the translating; afterward, making clear the signs of response in its transmission” 〔T35n1735 0523c22〕 |
| Chengguan, Yanyi chao | Where it glosses the commentary’s phrase 「親紆御筆」 tr. “she herself bent the imperial brush to it”, it records the full text of the empress’s imperial rescript 〔T36n1736 0114a05 起〕; it also glosses 「大賢闡揚於東夏」 tr. “the great worthies spread it abroad in the eastern land” 〔T36n1736 0013c25〕, and examines Śikṣānanda’s native region 〔T36n1736 0035a05〕 |
| Fazang, Tanxuan ji · Li Tongxuan, Xin Huayan jing lun | Marked absent: neither work has any phrase-by-phrase gloss on this preface |
| Zhiyan, Souxuan ji | Marked absent: what Zhiyan commented upon was the sixty-fascicle version, earlier than the translating of the eighty-fascicle one, and it has no bearing on this preface |
Four versions, not the same — for the history of the translations that lies between this preface’s 「譯在晉朝」 tr. “it was translated in the Jin dynasty” and its 「敬譯斯經」 tr. “reverently translated this sūtra”, Chengguan sets up four versions to gather it in:
「此經前後通唯二譯，并其補闕，四本不同」 tr. “This sūtra, first and last, was translated only twice in all; adding to these the supplying of what was missing, there are four versions, not the same” 〔T35n1735 0523c24〕
The four versions are severally these:
「一晉義熙十四年，北天竺三藏佛度跋陀羅，此云覺賢，於楊州謝司空寺翻梵本，三萬六千頌，成晉經五十卷、或六十卷」 tr. “First, in the fourteenth year of Yixi of the Jin, the tripiṭaka master of North India Buddhabhadra, whose name here means Awakened Worthy, translated the Sanskrit original at the Xie Sikong Monastery in Yangzhou — thirty-six thousand verses, making a Jin scripture of fifty fascicles, or of sixty” 〔T35n1735 0523c25〕, 「沙門法業筆受，慧嚴、慧觀潤色」 tr. “the śramaṇa Faye took it down at the brush, and Huiyan and Huiguan polished the wording” 〔0523c28〕
「二大唐永隆元年中，天竺三藏地婆訶羅，此云日照，於西京大原寺，譯出〈入法界品〉」 tr. “Second, in the first year of Yonglong of the Great Tang, the tripiṭaka master of India Divākara, whose name here means Sun-Illumined, translated at the Dayuan Monastery in the western capital the chapter Entry into the Dharma Realm” 〔T35n1735 0523c29〕
「三證聖元年，于闐三藏實叉難陀，此云喜學，於東都佛授記寺再譯舊文，兼補諸闕」 tr. “Third, in the first year of Zhengsheng, the tripiṭaka master of Khotan Śikṣānanda, whose name here means Joy in Learning, translated the old text anew at the Monastery of the Buddha’s Prophecy in the eastern capital, and together with this supplied all that was missing” 〔T35n1735 0524a08〕, 「計益九千頌，通舊總四萬五千頌，合成唐本八十卷」 tr. “the increase amounted to nine thousand verses, which taken together with the old comes to forty-five thousand verses in all, making up a Tang version of eighty fascicles” 〔0524a10〕
「即賢首法師以新舊兩經勘以梵本，將日照補文，安喜學脫處，遂得文續義連」 tr. “That is, the Dharma master Xianshou collated the two scriptures, new and old, against the Sanskrit original, and took Divākara’s supplementary text and set it in the place where Śikṣānanda’s had dropped out, so that the text was made continuous and the sense connected” 〔T35n1735 0524a16〕, 「今之所傳即第四本」 tr. “what is transmitted today is the fourth version” 〔0524a18〕
What this preface heads is the third version; the text of eighty fascicles transmitted today is already the fourth — the preface was composed before the supplying of what was missing, and this is the first thing a reader of the preface has to distinguish.
II. Terminology
| Chinese term | Sanskrit as transmitted by the masters of old (pronunciation aid) | Attestation | Essential sense |
|---|---|---|---|
| the four forbearances | — (no transliteration transmitted) | 「由是人迷四忍，輪迴於六趣之中」 tr. “for this reason people lose their way as to the four forbearances, and turn round and round within the six destinies” 〔T10n0279 0001a08〕 | The preface sets 「迷四忍」 tr. “losing one’s way as to the four forbearances” over against 「纏五蓋」 tr. “being bound up by the five hindrances” as the cause of turning round in birth and death. For the items of the four forbearances this apparatus has found no settled account by the masters of old bearing on this preface; the place is marked absent according to the record |
| the five hindrances | — (no transliteration transmitted) | 「家纏五蓋，沒溺於三塗之下」 tr. “household after household is bound up by the five hindrances, and sinks and drowns beneath the three evil paths” 〔T10n0279 0001a09〕 | The five obstructions that cover over the nature of the mind and keep the good from arising; the preface takes them as the cause of sinking and drowning in the three evil paths |
| the six destinies · the three evil paths | — (no transliteration transmitted) | as above 〔T10n0279 0001a08〕 | The six destinies are the six kinds of place in which sentient beings take birth; the three evil paths are the three most painful among them (the hells · the hungry ghosts · the animals). The preface matches the six destinies with 「輪迴」 tr. “turning round and round” and the three evil paths with 「沒溺」 tr. “sinking and drowning” |
| the thirty-seven factors | — (no transliteration transmitted) | 「念處、正勤，三十七品為其行」 tr. “the applications of mindfulness and the right exertions, the thirty-seven factors, are his practice” 〔T10n0279 0001a13〕 | The total number of the factors of the path; the preface names the applications of mindfulness and the right exertions as the first so as to gather in the rest, and judges them to be the Buddha’s 「行」 tr. “practice” |
| the four measureless states | — (no transliteration transmitted) | 「慈、悲、喜、捨，四無量法運其心」 tr. “kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity, the four measureless dharmas, set his mind in motion” 〔T10n0279 0001a14〕 | The four minds without limit: kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, equanimity. The preface judges them to be the Buddha’s 「心」 tr. “mind”, forming a matched pair with the 「行」 tr. “practice” that is the thirty-seven factors |
| the ten grounds | — (no transliteration transmitted) | 「中天調御越十地以居尊」 tr. “the Tamer of Beings in mid-heaven dwells in honor, having gone past the ten grounds” 〔T10n0279 0001a11〕 | The ten stages of the bodhisattva’s noble positions; by the Buddha’s 「越十地」 tr. “going past the ten grounds” the preface makes clear that he is not taken in by any position |
| the Iron Ring | — (no transliteration transmitted) | 「包括鐵圍，延促沙劫」 tr. “he takes in the Iron Ring, he lengthens and shortens kalpas as many as the sands” 〔T10n0279 0001a11〕 | The mountain wall that encircles a single world; the preface sets the spatial 「包括鐵圍」 tr. “taking in the Iron Ring” over against the temporal 「延促沙劫」 tr. “lengthening and shortening kalpas as many as the sands” |
| the secret treasury · the ocean of the nature | — (no transliteration transmitted) | 「斯乃諸佛之密藏，如來之性海」 tr. “this is the secret treasury of all the buddhas, the ocean of the Tathāgata’s nature” 〔T10n0279 0001a24〕 | The preface’s judgment of the substance of this sūtra: the treasury the buddhas hold in secret, and the nature and virtue of the Tathāgata that is as an ocean. Treated in detail under rubric five |
| half a pearl · the whole treasure | — (no transliteration transmitted) | 「唯啟半珠，未窺全寶」 tr. “only half a pearl was opened, and the whole treasure was never seen” 〔T10n0279 0001b03〕 | The preface uses the half and the whole of pearls and gems as a figure for the extent of the Jin translation as against the new one; it does not say that the Jin translation was in error |
| the sudden teaching · the vaipulya | — (no transliteration transmitted) | 「大乘頓教，普被於無窮；方廣真筌，遐該於有識」 tr. “the sudden teaching of the Great Vehicle covers everywhere to the point of endlessness; the true instrument of the vaipulya reaches far and gathers in all that has consciousness” 〔T10n0279 0001b12〕 | The preface judges for itself that the character of this sūtra’s teaching is the sudden teaching of the Great Vehicle, the true instrument of the vaipulya. This is a judgment made by the preface itself, and is not the classification into five teachings of later ages |
| non-duality | — (no transliteration transmitted) | 「理符不二之門」 tr. “the principle accords with the gate of non-duality” 〔T10n0279 0001b17〕 | Without speech and without showing, the principle accords of itself; upon this the preface establishes the ground for 「因言顯言」 tr. “relying on words to make words manifest” |
| the Golden Immortal · the jade screen | — (no transliteration transmitted) | 「金仙降旨，大雲之偈先彰；玉扆披祥，寶雨之文後及」 tr. “the Golden Immortal sent down his decree, and the verses of the Dayun jing made it manifest first; the jade screen received the auspicious sign, and the words of the Baoyu jing came after” 〔T10n0279 0001a18〕 | The Golden Immortal is an honorific for the Buddha; the jade screen is the screen behind the imperial seat, standing for the ruler of men. With these two expressions the preface sets side by side the two matters of the prophecy received and the auspices displayed |
| palm-leaf writings | — (no transliteration transmitted) | 「貝牒靈文，亦時臻而歲洽」 tr. “the numinous writings on palm leaves too arrived season by season and were abundant year by year” 〔T10n0279 0001a21〕 | Scriptural texts written on palm leaves; the preface relates them together with 「殊禎絕瑞」 tr. “extraordinary auspices and rarest of good omens” as among the blessings gathered |
| the Monastery of the Great Universal Emptiness | — | 「於大遍空寺，親受筆削，敬譯斯經」 tr. “in the Monastery of the Great Universal Emptiness, I myself took part in the setting down and the cutting away, and reverently translated this sūtra” 〔T10n0279 0001b07〕 | The translation office as the preface records it. It differs in places from what the commentary, the catalogues, and the biographies record; see rubric six |
III. Similes and Rhetoric
(i) The form of the whole piece: four-and-six parallel couplets — the preface has not a single passage in free prose, but is composed throughout in the parallel couplets of the four-and-six style, as in 「其為體也，則不生不滅；其為相也，則無去無來」 tr. “spoken of as to his substance, he neither arises nor ceases; spoken of as to his characteristic, he neither goes nor comes” 〔T10n0279 0001a12〕 and 「一句之內，包法界之無邊；一毫之中，置剎土而非隘」 tr. “within a single sentence, the boundlessness of the Dharma realm is contained; within a single hair, buddha-lands are set down and it is not cramped” 〔0001a28〕. The reader of the preface must know that the opening and closing of its doctrine often lies precisely in the two leaves of a couplet: one leaf speaks of substance, the other of characteristic; one leaf speaks of the broad, the other of the narrow.
(ii) The simile of the sun — 「慧日法王超四大而高視，中天調御越十地以居尊」 tr. “the Dharma King whose wisdom is a sun looks out from on high, having passed beyond the four great elements; the Tamer of Beings in mid-heaven dwells in honor, having gone past the ten grounds” 〔T10n0279 0001a10〕: the vehicle of the simile is the sun at mid-heaven; its subject is the Buddha; the sense it displays is that he looks out from on high, having passed beyond the body made of the four great elements, and dwells in honor, having gone past the position of the ten grounds.
(iii) The pairing of west and east — 「鷲巖西峙，象駕東驅」 tr. “the Vulture Peak rose up in the west, the carriage of the elephant drove eastward” 〔T10n0279 0001a10〕: the vehicle of the simile is the Vulture Peak standing up in the west and the carriage of the white elephant driving to the east; the sense it displays is where the Dharma came forth from and where the Dharma flowed east to, one couplet gathering in the two matters of the Buddha’s appearing in the world and the teaching’s coming eastward.
(iv) The simile of half a pearl and the whole treasure — 「然圓一部之典，纔獲三萬餘言，唯啟半珠，未窺全寶」 tr. “yet of this book that is whole and complete, no more than thirty thousand and some words were obtained — only half a pearl was opened, and the whole treasure was never seen” 〔T10n0279 0001b03〕: the vehicle of the simile is the opening of pearls and gems; its subject is what was obtained in the sixty fascicles of the Jin translation; the sense it displays is that the old translation was not in error but was not complete, and that hence there was reason for translating again.
(v) The simile of the ocean — 「斯乃諸佛之密藏，如來之性海」 tr. “this is the secret treasury of all the buddhas, the ocean of the Tathāgata’s nature” 〔T10n0279 0001a24〕 and 「添性海之波瀾，廓法界之疆域」 tr. “it added waves to the ocean of the nature and opened wider the borders of the Dharma realm” 〔0001b11〕: the ocean is the figure for the Tathāgata’s nature and virtue, the waves for the text that the new translation added, and the borders for the opening wider of the Dharma realm.
(vi) The great and the small set off against each other — 「混大空而為量，豈算數之能窮？入纖芥之微區，匪名言之可述」 tr. “he merges with the great emptiness and takes it as his measure — how could numbering exhaust it? he enters the minute region of a mustard seed — it is not what names and words can set out” 〔T10n0279 0001a15〕: the two extremes of the utterly great and the utterly small are raised together, the one running out at numbering and the other at names and words, the sense displayed being that the Buddha’s domain is apart from measure and apart from speech.
(vii) Sweet dew and the enriching rain — 「遂得甘露流津，預夢庚申之夕；膏雨灑潤，後覃壬戌之辰」 tr. “thereupon sweet dew came flowing in moisture, answering beforehand in a dream on the night of gengshen; an enriching rain fell and soaked the ground, extending afterward to the day renxu” 〔T10n0279 0001b08〕: the moisture sent down from heaven is the figure for the response that attended the work of translating; Chengguan’s commentary, relating the responses in its transmission, likewise has 「唐翻至教則甘露呈祥」 tr. “when the highest teaching was translated under the Tang, sweet dew presented an auspice” 〔T35n1735 0524a21〕, which is the same event as the preface relates of itself.
(viii) The two luminaries and the jeweled casket — 「並兩曜而長懸，彌十方而永布」 tr. “to hang on high as long as the two luminaries, and to fill the ten directions and be spread abroad forever” 〔T10n0279 0001b15〕 takes the sun and the moon as the figure for the sūtra’s long endurance; 「娑婆境中，俄啟珠函之祕」 tr. “within the realm of Sahā, the secret of the jeweled casket was of a sudden opened” 〔0001b14〕 takes the jeweled casket as the figure for the opening of a secret canon.
IV. Collation with Parallel Translations
This preface is an imperial composition at the head of the volume, not the text proper of the sūtra, and so there is no parallel translation against which it could be collated phrase by phrase. Its presence or absence is recorded according to the record:
- The sixty-fascicle Avataṃsaka T09n0278: there is no imperial preface at the head of the volume.
- The forty-fascicle Avataṃsaka T10n0293: the Taishō text has no preface at the head of the volume, but runs straight from the fascicle title through Prajña’s translator byline and the chapter title to 「如是我聞」 tr. “thus have I heard” 〔T10n0293 0661a04–a07〕, and the file carries no division for a preface at all — its presence or absence is recorded, and no collation table is made.
The figures set down (verbatim, without conversion) — the preface records three figures of its own: 「纔獲三萬餘言」 tr. “no more than thirty thousand and some words were obtained” 〔T10n0279 0001b03〕 and 「既覩百千之妙頌，乃披十萬之正文」 tr. “having seen the wondrous verses numbering a hundred thousand, I then opened out the ten myriad of the text proper” 〔0001b05〕; Chengguan’s commentary records three figures: for the Jin version 「三萬六千頌」 tr. “thirty-six thousand verses” 〔T35n1735 0523c27〕, and for the new translation 「計益九千頌，通舊總四萬五千頌」 tr. “the increase amounted to nine thousand verses, which taken together with the old comes to forty-five thousand verses in all” 〔0524a10〕. The figures in the preface and in the commentary each follow what they refer to (words · verses · fascicles); this apparatus sets them down verbatim, makes no conversion, and does not adjudicate which is right.
V. Scriptural Grounds of Sectarian Doctrine (the doctrinal eye)
(i) The substance of the sūtra: the secret treasury and the ocean of the nature — 「斯乃諸佛之密藏，如來之性海」 tr. “this is the secret treasury of all the buddhas, the ocean of the Tathāgata’s nature” 〔T10n0279 0001a24〕; and as to its characteristic, 「視之者，莫識其指歸；挹之者，罕測其涯際」 tr. “those who look upon it cannot make out where it is headed; those who dip from it can seldom fathom how far its shores extend” 〔0001a25〕. With 「藏」 tr. “treasury” the preface makes clear that it is hidden, and with 「海」 tr. “ocean” that it is deep and broad; this is the summary sentence in which the whole preface judges the sūtra.
(ii) The scriptural ground for the unobstructed relation of broad and narrow — 「一句之內，包法界之無邊；一毫之中，置剎土而非隘」 tr. “within a single sentence, the boundlessness of the Dharma realm is contained; within a single hair, buddha-lands are set down and it is not cramped” 〔T10n0279 0001a28〕. That a single sentence should hold the boundless Dharma realm, and a single hair contain buddha-lands without being felt as narrow, is precisely the language of the Huayan mutual identity of broad and narrow. In relating the responses attending its transmission Chengguan too has language of the same order: 「良以一文之妙攝義無遺，故一偈之功能破地獄」 tr. “it is indeed because the wonder of a single line gathers in the meaning without remainder that the merit of a single verse can break open the hells” 〔T35n1735 0524b01〕 — 「一文之妙攝義無遺」 tr. “the wonder of a single line gathers in the meaning without remainder” 〔T35n1735 0524b01〕 and the preface’s 「一句之內，包法界之無邊」 tr. “within a single sentence, the boundlessness of the Dharma realm is contained”, the one being the language of a commentator and the other that of the author of the preface, may be linked as a single vein of meaning.
(iii) Substance and characteristic set up together — 「其為體也，則不生不滅；其為相也，則無去無來」 tr. “spoken of as to his substance, he neither arises nor ceases; spoken of as to his characteristic, he neither goes nor comes” 〔T10n0279 0001a12〕: with neither arising nor ceasing the substance is set up, and with neither going nor coming the characteristic is set up, the two gates of substance and characteristic standing side by side without either taking away the other.
(iv) The character of the teaching, judged by the preface itself: the sudden teaching and the vaipulya — 「大乘頓教，普被於無窮；方廣真筌，遐該於有識」 tr. “the sudden teaching of the Great Vehicle covers everywhere to the point of endlessness; the true instrument of the vaipulya reaches far and gathers in all that has consciousness” 〔T10n0279 0001b12〕. This is a judgment upon the teaching made by the preface itself, to be attributed to the author and not to the classifications of the later masters of the house.
(v) Words and wordlessness — 「雖則無說無示，理符不二之門；然因言顯言，方闡大千之義」 tr. “although there is neither speech nor showing, and the principle accords with the gate of non-duality, yet it is by relying on words to make words manifest that the meaning of the great thousandfold world is set forth” 〔T10n0279 0001b17〕. First the principle of neither speech nor showing is established, then the use of relying on words to make words manifest; the two lines follow upon each other and make the close of the preface, and the preface’s last words, 「輒申鄙作，爰題序云」 tr. “I have presumed to put forward this poor composition, and so have inscribed it as a preface” 〔0001b18〕, issue from this.
(vi) The causal practice and the fruit-virtue — 「最勝種智，莊嚴之迹既隆；普賢、文殊，願行之因斯滿」 tr. “the supreme knowledge of all modes — the traces of its adornment are already abundant; Samantabhadra and Mañjuśrī — the causes that are their vows and practices are here fulfilled” 〔T10n0279 0001a27〕: with the supreme knowledge of all modes the fruit is set up, and with the vows and practices of Samantabhadra and Mañjuśrī the cause; as for the places of the assemblies, 「摩竭陀國，肇興妙會之緣；普光法堂，爰敷寂滅之理」 tr. “in the country of Magadha the conditions for the wondrous assembly first arose; in the Dharma hall of Universal Light the principle of quiescence was there spread out” 〔0001a29〕.
VI. Divergent Interpretations of the Commentators (the masters of old, with their tenets marked)
Continuous whole-text gloss marked absent; local glosses on the preface set down — no continuous phrase-by-phrase gloss on the whole of this preface has been found in Chengguan’s Shu or Chao: the passage in fascicle three of the Shu is a chapter on the history of the translations. The Yanyi chao, however, does gloss the preface in two places, and both are set down here. First, Chengguan, glossing the commentary’s phrase 「唐翻至教甘露呈祥」 tr. “when the highest teaching was translated under the Tang, sweet dew presented an auspice”, says 「則天夢普天降甘露」 tr. “Zetian dreamt that sweet dew came down over the whole sky,” and cites this preface, 「甘露流津，預夢庚申之夕；膏雨灑潤，後覃壬戌之辰」 tr. “sweet dew came flowing in moisture, answering beforehand in a dream on the night of gengshen; an enriching rain fell and soaked the ground, extending afterward to the day renxu” 〔T36n1736 0113c27〕, explaining the interval between the two nights with 「以其十四日辛酉初譯，前後各有一日感微」 tr. “because the first translating was on the fourteenth day, xinyou, there was a subtle response one day on either side of it” 〔T36n1736 0113c29〕. Second, before citing the memorial of the meditation master Hongjing, Chengguan first notes 「案經序中，本於大遍空寺親受筆削」 tr. “according to the preface to the sūtra, it was at the Monastery of the Great Universal Emptiness that she took part in person in the setting down and the cutting away” 〔T36n1736 0113b25〕, joining the translation office and the personal editing that the preface records of itself to the wording of the memorial. Both of these are the Chao’s own words, not the preface speaking for itself, and the attribution must be kept distinct. Beyond these, what the Chao glosses is the commentary’s phrase 「親紆御筆」 tr. “she herself bent the imperial brush to it”. Fazang’s Tanxuan ji T35n1733 and Li Tongxuan’s Xin Huayan jing lun T36n1739 have no phrase-by-phrase gloss on this preface. Zhiyan’s Souxuan ji T35n1732 commented upon the sixty-fascicle version and in point of time has no bearing on this preface. What is set down under this rubric, therefore, is not divergent interpretation of the preface, but the divergences among the various records concerning the work of translating that this preface relates.
(a) The name of the translation office — the preface records of itself 「於大遍空寺，親受筆削，敬譯斯經」 tr. “in the Monastery of the Great Universal Emptiness, I myself took part in the setting down and the cutting away, and reverently translated this sūtra” 〔T10n0279 0001b07〕; Chengguan’s commentary records 「三證聖元年，于闐三藏實叉難陀，此云喜學，於東都佛授記寺再譯舊文，兼補諸闕」 tr. “third, in the first year of Zhengsheng, the tripiṭaka master of Khotan Śikṣānanda, whose name here means Joy in Learning, translated the old text anew at the Monastery of the Buddha’s Prophecy in the eastern capital, and together with this supplied all that was missing” 〔T35n1735 0524a08〕; the Kaiyuan shijiao lu records 「以天后證聖元年乙未。於東都大內大遍空寺譯華嚴經」 tr. “in the first year of Zhengsheng of the Heavenly Empress, the year yiwei, the Huayan jing was translated at the Monastery of the Great Universal Emptiness within the palace in the eastern capital” 〔T55n2154 0566a17〕, and records further 「後付沙門復禮法藏等。於佛授記寺譯。至聖曆二年己亥功畢」 tr. “afterward it was handed over to the śramaṇas Fuli and Fazang and the rest, and translated at the Monastery of the Buddha’s Prophecy; the work was finished in the second year of Shengli, the year jihai” 〔T55n2154 0566a20〕; the Song gaoseng zhuan records 「以證聖元年乙未於東都大內大遍空寺翻譯」 tr. “the translating was done in the first year of Zhengsheng, the year yiwei, at the Monastery of the Great Universal Emptiness within the palace in the eastern capital” 〔T50n2061 0718c24〕 and 「後付沙門復禮、法藏等於佛授記寺譯成八十卷。聖曆二年功畢」 tr. “afterward it was handed over to the śramaṇas Fuli and Fazang and the rest, who at the Monastery of the Buddha’s Prophecy completed the translation in eighty fascicles; the work was finished in the second year of Shengli” 〔T50n2061 0718c27〕; the Huayan jing zhuanji records 「以天后證聖元年乙未。於東都大內遍空寺。譯華嚴經」 tr. “in the first year of Zhengsheng of the Heavenly Empress, the year yiwei, the Huayan jing was translated at the Monastery of Universal Emptiness within the palace in the eastern capital” 〔T51n2073 0155a14〕. All four accounts are set down together.
(b) The years and months of beginning and ending — the preface records the beginning at 「粵以證聖元年，歲次乙未」 tr. “it was in the first year of Zhengsheng, the year of the cycle being yiwei” 〔T10n0279 0001b06〕 and the ending at 「以聖曆二年，歲次己亥，十月壬午朔，八日己丑，繕寫畢功」 tr. “in the second year of Shengli, the year of the cycle being jihai, the tenth month whose first day was renwu, on the eighth day, jichou, the fair copying was completed” 〔T10n0279 0001b10〕; the catalogues and biographies record only as far as 「聖曆二年己亥功畢」 tr. “the work was finished in the second year of Shengli, the year jihai” 〔T55n2154 0566a21〕, without recording month and day. The preface is detailed and the records are brief; both are set down together.
(c) The names of those who translated together — as listed in Chengguan’s commentary: 「大德義淨三藏、弘景禪師、圓測法師、神英法師、法寶法師、賢首法師等同譯，復禮法師綴文」 tr. “the venerable tripiṭaka master Yijing, the meditation master Hongjing, the Dharma master Woncheuk, the Dharma master Shenying, the Dharma master Fabao, and the Dharma master Xianshou and the rest translated it together, and the Dharma master Fuli composed the wording” 〔T35n1735 0524a12〕; as listed in the Kaiyuan shijiao lu: after 「天后明揚佛日敬重大乘。以華嚴舊經處會未備。遠聞于闐有斯梵本發使求訪」 tr. “the Heavenly Empress raised high the sun of the Buddha and held the Great Vehicle in reverence; since in the old scripture of the Huayan the places and assemblies were not complete, and she had heard from afar that this Sanskrit original was in Khotan, she sent envoys to seek it out” 〔T55n2154 0566a14〕, those who recited forth the Sanskrit original were Bodhiruci and Yijing, and those to whom the translating was handed over were Fuli and Fazang and the rest 〔T55n2154 0566a20〕. The names in the two places differ in fullness; both are set down together without adjudication.
(d) The sense of the chief translator’s name, and his native region — 「沙門實叉難陀。唐云喜學。于闐國人」 tr. “the śramaṇa Śikṣānanda; in Tang his name means Joy in Learning; a man of the country of Khotan” 〔T55n2154 0566a13〕; 「大周神都佛授記寺沙門實叉難陀。唐云喜覺。于闐國人」 tr. “the śramaṇa Śikṣānanda of the Monastery of the Buddha’s Prophecy in the divine capital of the Great Zhou; in Tang his name means Joy and Awakening; a man of the country of Khotan” 〔T51n2073 0155a10〕; 「釋實叉難陀，一云施乞叉難陀，華言學喜，葱嶺北于闐人也」 tr. “Shi Śikṣānanda, also given as Shiqichanantuo; in the Chinese tongue, Learning and Joy; a man of Khotan, north of the Onion Range” 〔T50n2061 0718c19〕; and Chengguan’s Chao says 「實叉三藏于闐國人，多近東北」 tr. “the tripiṭaka master Śikṣānanda was a man of the country of Khotan, which lies mostly toward the northeast” 〔T36n1736 0035a05〕. The three renderings of the name, 「喜學」 tr. “Joy in Learning”, 「喜覺」 tr. “Joy and Awakening”, and 「學喜」 tr. “Learning and Joy”, stand side by side, and are set down together without adjudication.
(e) The name of the envoy who escorted him home, and the day — 「勅御史霍嗣光送至于闐」 tr. “by decree the censor Huo Siguang escorted him as far as Khotan” 〔T55n2154 0566a28〕; 「勅御史崔嗣光。送至于闐」 tr. “by decree the censor Cui Siguang escorted him as far as Khotan” 〔T51n2073 0155a25〕. For the day on which his numinous tongue was sent back to Khotan, one account has the twenty-third day of the twelfth month 〔T55n2154 0566b09〕 and another the thirteenth day of the twelfth month 〔T51n2073 0155b07〕. Both are set down together without adjudication.
(f) The relation of the Heavenly Empress to the preface — the catalogues and biographies all record 「天后親臨法座煥發序文。自運仙毫首題名品」 tr. “the Heavenly Empress came in person to the Dharma seat and brought forth the text of the preface in its brilliance; with her own immortal brush she inscribed the name of the first chapter” 〔T55n2154 0566a18〕, and the Song gaoseng zhuan has the same wording with different punctuation: 「天后親臨法座，煥發序文，自運仙毫，首題名品」 tr. “the Heavenly Empress came in person to the Dharma seat, brought forth the text of the preface in its brilliance, plied her own immortal brush, and inscribed the name of the first chapter” 〔T50n2061 0718c25〕. This answers of itself to this preface’s being an imperial composition; both are set down together.
VII. Cross-Reading and Lineage
The lineage of this preface lies not in the treatises on doctrine but along the single line of the history of the translations: the insufficiency of the Jin translation → Divākara’s supplying → Śikṣānanda’s translating anew → Xianshou’s collating and supplying, which is just the four versions that Chengguan sets up. The preface was composed when the third version had just been completed, so that its 「敬譯斯經」 tr. “reverently translated this sūtra” refers to the third version; while the eighty fascicles the reader holds today are already the fourth — between the preface and the text transmitted now there stands one collating and supplying, and this is the most important lineage relation of this preface.
- The chain of the four versions in the history of the translations — 「此經前後通唯二譯，并其補闕，四本不同」 tr. “this sūtra, first and last, was translated only twice in all; adding to these the supplying of what was missing, there are four versions, not the same” 〔T35n1735 0523c24〕 is the general heading; of the last of the four versions it says 「即賢首法師以新舊兩經勘以梵本，將日照補文，安喜學脫處，遂得文續義連」 tr. “that is, the Dharma master Xianshou collated the two scriptures, new and old, against the Sanskrit original, and took Divākara’s supplementary text and set it in the place where Śikṣānanda’s had dropped out, so that the text was made continuous and the sense connected” 〔T35n1735 0524a16〕, and as to which is now in hand it says 「今之所傳即第四本」 tr. “what is transmitted today is the fourth version” 〔T35n1735 0524a18〕. Chengguan further records that the third version was still current in the world: his text says that many of the scriptures in circulation have dropped-out portions, and expresses the wish that persons of discernment, seeing what is missing, may supply it 〔T35n1735 0524a18–a20〕.
- The imperial rescript, a single piece (with three layers of attribution) — the Yanyi chao, glossing the commentary’s phrase 「親紆御筆」 tr. “she herself bent the imperial brush to it”, first cites the Record as saying 「新經初譯之後，佛授記寺諸大德請藏和尚講」 tr. “after the new scripture had first been translated, the senior masters of the Monastery of the Buddha’s Prophecy invited the reverend Fazang to lecture upon it” 〔T36n1736 0114a06〕, next records 「至十二月十二日晚上講，講至華藏世界海震動之文」 tr. “on the evening of the twelfth day of the twelfth month he lectured, and reached the passage on the shaking of the ocean of worlds of the Flower Treasury” 〔T36n1736 0114a08〕 and 「其講堂內及寺院中忽然震動，于時道俗數千共覩，歎未曾有」 tr. “within the lecture hall and throughout the monastery grounds there was of a sudden a shaking, and at that time several thousand of the ordained and the lay together beheld it and marveled that such a thing had never been” 〔T36n1736 0114a09〕, and last sets down, under 「以聖曆三年臘月十九日，則天后親運御筆批云」 tr. “on the nineteenth day of the last month of the third year of Shengli, the Empress Zetian plied the imperial brush herself and endorsed it, saying” 〔T36n1736 0114a13〕, the text of the rescript: 「昨因敷演微言、弘揚祕賾，初譯之日，夢甘露以呈祥；開講之辰，感地動而標異」 tr. “yesterday, on account of the setting forth of subtle words and the spreading abroad of what is secret and profound: on the day of the first translating, a dream of sweet dew presented an auspice; at the hour of the opening of the lectures, the moving of the earth was felt and marked it as extraordinary” 〔T36n1736 0114a15〕, 「斯乃如來降跡，用符九會之文。豈朕庸虛敢當六種之應」 tr. “this is the Tathāgata letting down his traces, so as to accord with the text of the nine assemblies. How should I, in my mediocrity and emptiness, dare to be equal to a response of six kinds?” 〔T36n1736 0114a16〕, 「披覽來狀，欣暢盈懷，宜付所司頒示天下」 tr. “on reading through the report submitted, gladness and ease filled my breast; let it be handed to the office concerned and promulgated throughout the empire” 〔T36n1736 0114a18〕. The three layers of attribution: Chengguan’s Chao cites the Record, the Record sets down the imperial rescript, and the rescript issues from the same hand as this preface — the rescript’s 「初譯之日，夢甘露以呈祥」 tr. “on the day of the first translating, a dream of sweet dew presented an auspice” and the preface’s 「遂得甘露流津，預夢庚申之夕」 tr. “thereupon sweet dew came flowing in moisture, answering beforehand in a dream on the night of gengshen” 〔T10n0279 0001b08〕 are two pieces of writing by one person recording one event.
- The responses in its transmission — Chengguan’s commentary gives the general account 「自晉譯微言則雙童現瑞，唐翻至教則甘露呈祥，冥衛昭然親紆御筆」 tr. “from the Jin translating of the subtle words, when a pair of youths displayed an auspice, to the Tang translating of the highest teaching, when sweet dew presented an auspice, the unseen protection was manifest, and the imperial brush was bent to it in person” 〔T35n1735 0524a21〕, and gives particular accounts of the copying, 「其書寫則經輝五色、楮香四達」 tr. “as for the copying, the scripture shone with five colors and the fragrance of the paper reached in all four directions” 〔T35n1735 0524a24〕, and of the lecturing, 「講說則華梵通韻、人天共遵」 tr. “as for the lecturing, Chinese and Sanskrit shared one rhythm, and human beings and devas alike revered it” 〔T35n1735 0524a29〕. The two responses of sweet dew and enriching rain that this preface relates of itself are what the commentary’s 「唐翻至教則甘露呈祥」 tr. “when the highest teaching was translated under the Tang, sweet dew presented an auspice” rests upon.
- The line of those who spread it abroad in the eastern land — Chengguan’s Chao, glossing 「大賢闡揚於東夏」 tr. “the great worthies spread it abroad in the eastern land”, says 「正取覺賢兼餘大德，謂智嚴、法業、日照、實叉等闡揚斯典」 tr. “it takes Buddhabhadra properly, and with him the other senior masters, that is, Zhiyan of the Jin, Faye, Divākara, and Śikṣānanda and the rest, who spread this book abroad” 〔T36n1736 0013c25〕 — Buddhabhadra and Faye (the Jin translation), Divākara (the supplying of what was missing), and Śikṣānanda (the new translation) are set in one line, and the history of the translations that this preface relates is the middle stretch of that line.
- Chains not established — Vasubandhu’s Shidi jing lun T26n1522 and the treatises of the consciousness-only lineage have no bearing on this preface, and no lineage chain is set up for this unit; whether the treatises on doctrinal classification of the Huayan house (T45n1866 and the rest) cite the language of this preface has not been collated in this apparatus, and stands listed apart from the items marked absent above.
VIII. Edition Location Register
- The base text T279: the imperial preface begins 〔T10n0279 0001a03〕 and ends 〔0001b19〕. The title 0001a03 · the signature 0001a05 · the opening at 「蓋聞」 tr. “I have heard” 0001a06 · the lines on delusion and awakening 0001a08 · the passage on the Buddha’s virtue 0001a10–a17 · the account of the prophecy received 0001a17–a23 · the passage in praise of the sūtra 0001a24–a29 · the places of the assemblies 0001a29–b02 · the insufficiency of the Jin translation 0001b02–b04 · the provenance of the Sanskrit original 0001b04–b06 · the day the translating began 0001b06–b08 · the responses 0001b08–b10 · the completion of the translating 0001b10–b12 · the judgment on the character of the teaching 0001b12–b13 · the prayer 0001b13–b17 · words and wordlessness 0001b17–b18 · the closing words 0001b18–b19. What stands after it, the title of the sūtra for fascicle one at 0001b22 and the title of the translator at 0001b24, does not belong to this unit. The text proper runs to six hundred and seventy-six graphs.
- Chengguan, Huayan jing shu T35n1735: the chapter 「第八傳譯感通」 tr. “eighth, the transmission and translating, and the responses obtained” in fascicle three begins 0523c22 and ends 0524b04. The general heading of the four versions 0523c24 · the first version 0523c25–c29 · the second version 0523c29–0524a08 · the third version 0524a08–a14 · the fourth version 0524a14–a18 · what is transmitted today being the fourth 0524a18 · the responses in its transmission 0524a20–0524b04 (sweet dew presenting an auspice 0524a21 · the copying 0524a24 · the lecturing 0524a29 · the wonder of a single line 0524b01).
- Chengguan, Yanyi chao T36n1736: the passage on the imperial rescript 0114a05–a20 (the Record cited 0114a06 · the shaking at the opening of the lectures 0114a08 · the endorsement in the imperial brush 0114a13 · the text of the rescript 0114a14–a19) · the great worthies spreading it abroad 0013c22–0014a02 · Śikṣānanda’s native region 0035a01–a07.
- The catalogues and biographies: the Kaiyuan shijiao lu T55n2154, fascicle nine, the entry on Śikṣānanda 0566a13–0566b12; the Song gaoseng zhuan T50n2061, fascicle two, the life of Śikṣānanda 0718c18–0719a17; the Huayan jing zhuanji T51n2073, fascicle one, the third section on transmission and translating, the passage on Śikṣānanda 0155a10–0155b09.
- Parallel translations: the sixty-fascicle Avataṃsaka T09n0278 has no imperial preface at the head of the volume; the forty-fascicle Avataṃsaka T10n0293 likewise has no preface at the head of the volume in the Taishō text 〔T10n0293 0661a04–a07〕.
- The distinction between what is marked absent and what has not been collated: Fazang’s Tanxuan ji T35n1733 and Li Tongxuan’s Xin Huayan jing lun T36n1739 have zero phrase-by-phrase glosses on this preface, and Zhiyan’s Souxuan ji T35n1732 has no bearing on it in point of time — these three are marked absent. Whether the treatises on doctrinal classification of the Huayan house, T45n1866, T45n1868, and T45n1883, cite the language of this preface (the secret treasury · the ocean of the nature · half a pearl · the whole treasure and the like) has not been collated in this apparatus — this is a matter not collated, listed apart from what is marked absent, and neither may stand in for the other.
- Variant readings: within the range of the preface proper, 〔0001a03〕–〔0001b19〕, this unit carries 11 sets of collation notes (9 printed in the Taishō itself, 2 emendations newly supplied by CBETA), recorded one by one without adjudication (base reading 【大】｜variant readings of other witnesses, several witnesses separated by ／): 〔0001a03〕大周新譯【大】｜【明】 · 〔0001a05〕天冊金輪聖神皇帝製【大】｜唐武則天製【北藏-CB】 · 〔0001a05〕冊【大】｜策【宮】 · 〔0001a18〕仙【大】｜山【宋】／僊【元】 · 〔0001a21〕牒【大】｜葉【明】 · 〔0001a22〕辭【大】｜詞【宋】【元】【明】 · 〔0001b03〕然圓【CB】｜然【大】／然圓【明】【宮】 · 〔0001b11〕己【CB】【麗-CB】｜巳【大】 (in 歲次己亥) · 〔0001b11〕己【CB】【麗-CB】｜巳【大】 (in 八日己丑) · 〔0001b13〕筌【大】｜詮【明】 · 〔0001b18〕然【大】｜然而【明】. The translator’s byline that follows at the head of the sūtra, 〔0001b24〕, carries a further 3 sets printed in the Taishō; they do not belong to this unit and are set down here for reference only: 〔0001b24〕于【大】｜唐于【明】 · 〔0001b24〕藏【大】｜藏沙門【宋】【元】【明】／藏法師【宮】 · 〔0001b24〕奉制【大】｜【宋】【元】【明】【宮】. In all: 12 collation notes printed in the Taishō, and 2 emendations newly supplied by CBETA.
- Supplementary note on variant readings: the interlinear notes were stripped at the level of the original-text layer.
Set down without adjudication — what is recorded under this rubric — the divergences in the name of the translation office (the Monastery of the Great Universal Emptiness · the Monastery of the Great Universal Emptiness within the palace · the Monastery of Universal Emptiness within the palace · the Monastery of the Buddha’s Prophecy), the fullness or brevity of the accounts of beginning and ending, the differences in the names of those who translated together, the three renderings of the sense of the chief translator’s name (Joy in Learning · Joy and Awakening · Learning and Joy), the name of the escorting envoy (Huo Siguang · Cui Siguang), and the day on which the tongue was sent back (the twenty-third day · the thirteenth day) — are all settled accounts of the various masters, set down one by one together, without adjudicating which is right. As for the prophecy and the auspicious response in the passage 「金仙降旨，大雲之偈先彰；玉扆披祥，寶雨之文後及」 tr. “the Golden Immortal sent down his decree, and the verses of the Dayun jing made it manifest first; the jade screen received the auspicious sign, and the words of the Baoyu jing came after” 〔T10n0279 0001a18〕, this apparatus sets down the words solely on the preface’s own account of itself, and draws no inference from outside the preface.